Tumgik
#but anyways i slept and ate a small bit and i think i am ok?
mysicklove · 8 months
Text
i almost fainted today in class. ❤️
8 notes · View notes
minminho0 · 1 year
Text
➣𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐
<𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐦𝐚 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫>
Summary: Your family got killed right in front of your eyes when you were a child. The only thing you remembered from the demon is those abnormal rainbow eyes. You're determined to be a demon slayer when you grow up to kill the exact demon who killed your family. What if one day you met that demon again but not as an enemy but as a lover? and what if you found out hes not a human and hes the exact demon who killed your family? will you kill him or forgive him?
A/n:I CANT STOP THINKING ABT HIM OH MY GOSH HES SO PRETTY
anyways i hope you enjoy~!
--
After that night, you run away from your home, leaving the dead bodies to rot. You burried the demon's features in your mind but to be honest you dont really have to, since you can never forget those beautiful rainbow eyes. You are determined to kill him no matter what but to start that you have to know how to fight and obviously youre just a kid (13), you have to start of with the basics.
You kept running until it was the next day resulting you to collapse, of course you wouldn't let yourself sleep in the middle of the road, that will be too dangerous. So you climb a nearby tree with all the remaining strength you have and slept there.
But you woke up a few hours later, wondering how you could become a demon slayer until you heard some people talking below the tree where you are about the final selection.
'Final selection?' You listen a bit more and found out that to become a demon slayer you have to participate on the final selection to become a demon slayer.
'Welp that problem is solved but what about the training and stuff? I dont know how to.. Ill probably find someone.. And if i dont then ill train by myself.. '
You jumped off the tree once the people who was talking below you already walked away. You walked around wondering what you should eat for dinner, not knowing that someone already decided what their dinner should be, You.
Goosebumps spread around your body when you heard a loud thump behind you. You slowly turn your head and immediately saw a demon sprinting towards you.
"AH!!! HELPPPP" you started running away while shouting for help.
"COME BACK HERE AND LET ME FEAST ON YOU!" the demon shoutes but you still kept on running.
You were panicking and crying at this point but you suddenly heard
"AHH!! HOW DARE YOU!!" Before the shouting had faded. You did not dare stop running until curiosity got the best of you and you look back. Instead of being greeted with a demon running after you, you just saw a normal dude walking towards you with a sword.
"Ha? Who are you?"
"No need to know who i am but we need to hurry for shelter, its already night time."
"Wha-" before you could reply, the man already grabbed your hand and startes sprinting away. Your legs cant even keep up with his speed, his basically just dragging you. You tightened your grip on his hands, scared that you'll get left behind.
All the demons that were trying to eat you two were immediately slain before you even notice them.
The guy lead you to a small house which you're going to assume is his.
You sat on the floor and waited for him to settle down before you ask.
"So.. Who are yo-"
"My name is Urokodaki"
"My name is Y/n" you bowed down in front of the man, forehead, hands and knees laid flat on the ground while you kept saying thank you.
"Thank you for saving my life, if it werent for you id be dead by now" you praised him.
-
You two got to know each other while having dinner that the man had prepared for you.
"So- *munch* why do you have that mask on you? " you said while eating, a little creeped out that his just staring at you eat.
"Because of reasons.. Now refill your stamina as your training starts tomorrow. "
"Hah?! What training!?" You choked.
"Didn't you say you want to kill the demon that ate your family? The only way to kill it is to become a demon slayer. " he simply explained.
"Oh ok it shouldn't be that hard-"
-
"I spoke to soon" you said while crying and struggling because you're practically being tortured!
"It is part of your training to become a demon slayer"
"I know but.. " 
'Its too late to back out now' you thought as you continued, your only motivation is your family.
--
<<𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭>>
Hehe i hope you enjoyed this chapter~!
-April 12, 2023
29 notes · View notes
deleteddewewted · 3 years
Note
I think Tumblr ate my last request, and unfortunately, I don't remember what it was :/.... So here's a new one:
If you write for Monoshin, could you please write some hcs of them with their female s/o (poly relationship) who loves rain but is terrified of thunder (as in, so terrified, she tries to go hide in or under something) ? I don't mind if the ending is nsfw or sfw (although...both would be nice....). Thank you, and I apologize if I'm being annoying with requests 😅 (seriously, please tell me if I am, and I'll back off)!
Hi again! I don't mind you sending multiple request, it's a great way to help me expand my writing. So feel free to request more! (You aren’t annoying. Say that about yourself again I will fight you 🔫)
And let me just say that it was a pleasure to write more smut for the two underrated boys.
MonoShin With A S/o Who’s Scared Of Thunder
Fluff and NSFW
Tumblr media
Monoma and Shinsou were very busy people.
Both pro heroes, both married, both married to the same person.
The chaos that ensued when they revealed that they were both marrying you.
Everyone was happy but that meant that their families would make an issue to how the ceremony would look.
Anyways, since the very beginning of your relationship, Monoma and Shinsou made it very clear that it would only work if you were all communicating. You agreed to that fully with them.
You all started to date during your UA days.
During the first few times, you all slept in the same dorm, you all discovered something interesting about yourself specifically.
It was a relaxed day and the outside world was coming to life with heavy rain.
Monoma was helping you out with your skincare routine while Shinsou was brushing your hair.
It was peaceful, a calm drizzle outside that helped calm down the three of you after a long day.
Earlier, you had been walking with a small skip to your step in the rain.
It felt pleasant.
The cold water that fell without an end on you had some charm to it that made you overjoyed.
So overjoyed that you had forced your boyfriends to follow you.
Their priority wasn’t to hide from the rain but to make sure you didn’t trip and fall on the wet concrete.
They dragged you inside one you were soaked and helped dry you up.
BOOM.
A loud crash was heard and a bright light lit up the room.
Monoma and Shinsou were startled but laughed at the moment of fear the noise had induced.
They directed themselves toward you but you weren’t in between them anymore.
“Y/n?” The boys searched for you and they found you hiding in the closet.
Monoma laughed at you while Shinosu chuckled.
“Y/n, what are you doing?” Shinsou asked. Monoma was about to laugh even harder when thunder struck again, causing him to choke on his laugh.
You shrieked again and took some of the hanging clothes to cover your head with.
Shinsou smacked Monoma on the back of the head and went into the closet to comfort you. Monoma, on the other hand, continued to choke and once he got some of his breath back he follows suit.
That was years ago.
You were all now sleeping in your penthouse, under the covers on the two pro heroes’ day off.
You laid in between them, head resting on Monoma as his arms held you close and Sshinsou doing the same but with his face buried into your neck.
Usually, they would set up a day full of fun and relaxation for the three of you.
But they were both too tired and you yourself were too comfortable to get up and do anything.
That’s when the piece was disrupted.
The loud noise from outside woke you up but kept the two pros sound asleep.
You quickly got up from the bed and looked aimlessly for somewhere to hide.
Your warmth didn’t go unnoticed though.
Shinsou was the first to wake up.
He reached out for you but found your usual spot in between him and Monoma empty.
He got up and opened his eyes. You weren’t beside them.
Shinsou got up and started to look in different secluded spots in the penthouse.
You told them about your fear of thunder after the first incident back in UA. So this was nothing new.
He found you in one of the bathrooms downstairs and asked if he could come in. Once inside he lifted you from the floor and placed you in his lap.
“Everything’s ok Y/n. I’m here, I’ll take care of you.” He wrapped an arm around you and brushed your hair out of your face.
Light kisses were placed on your neck as a distraction from the thunder booming outside.
The gentle touches making your skin burn hot and your stomach do flips.
“Toshi.” You moaned. It only made him want to hear more of you.
NSFW Below (Minors DNI)
W: Strap On, Bottom Monoma
Shinsou bucked his hips up towards you.
Your pussy twitched as you felt the outline of his dick.
You tried moving up and getting away from him, you were a bit overwhelmed with the pleasant feeling.
But Shinsou wouldn’t let you. He grabbed onto your hips with a tight grip and pushed them down onto his covered sex.
“Common sweetheart. I know I can make you forget for a while. Will you let me?” His mouth was next to your ear. Whispering an attractive offer you would never say no to.
“Yes.” You whispered out.
Shisnous hands moved away from hips and arms wrapped themselves around you instead.
He buried his face into your neck and he continued to buck into you while pushing you down onto himself.
Light moans escaped his lips while your eyes hazed with lust.
After minutes of teasing the weather outside became violent. Shinsou and you didn’t care.
His dick was buried inside of you as you moved up and down it.
He looked so beautiful under you. Panting and moaning. Voice deep and rumbling.
It was that same rumbling in his chest that helped ground you and comfort you as you ignored the sounds from outside.
“Y-y/n, ple-asee. Give me m-more of your tight pussyy.” You indulged him as he fucked into you desperately.
He held onto your chest and thrust his hips into you violently.
He had your legs shaking and weak as he himself felt his own body begin to break under the blind pleasure.
“T-toshi, give me m-ore!” You brokenly asked. He gladly went harder.
Monoma woke up alone in bed and got up to look for his two missing spouses.
Even from upstairs, he could hear your moans.
He smiled to himself and grabbed something from one of the drawers.
“This should help.” He spoke to himself.
Monoma listened outside of the bathroom door. The only sounds being the slapping of skin against skin and Shinosus groans. Your light and airy moans being a major attractor to him.
He knocked on the door and walked inside. Greeted by the sight of Shinsou on top of you panting like a cat in heat and you splayed out as Shinsou supports your body with his own strength.
“How cute, mind if I join?” You looked up at Monoma but were prevented from answering when you heard another thunderous boom from outside.
Before you could yell, the air was knocked out of you by Shinsous cock burying itself deeper inside you.
Monoma took that as his queue to enter the fun and showed you the object he brought.
It was a strap on.
He helped push Shinsou back, allowing him to put in on you and accommodate it.
“T-To-shi fuck, ge-t out.” You told him.
Shinsous thrusting stopped and he pulled out of you.
Monoma placed himself on the cold tiled floor with his back to it. He spread his legs out for you, giving you a full look at his sex and his ass.
“Y/n, would you mind filling me up?” He teased.
You got up from Shinsous lap, legs shaking at the few steps you had to take towards Monoma.
You got on top of him and slammed your hips into his entrance. You had him seeing stars for a moment.
“Oooh, Nei.” You placed your hands on the crook of his legs and pushed them higher.
Monoma felt as his hole narrowed and the strap on felt bigger than before. God, he loved this.
“You l-ook so pretty l-like this, N-Nei.” Monoma flustered at the compliment and watched as you buried yourself inside of him.
“AAaaah Fuuuck!” Shinsou took this as his queue to do his part and enter your sopping pussy again. This time quickly and with some force.
“FUuuuck!” Monoma and you moaned out.
Shinsou began to thrust hard and fast into your pussy.
Because of that, you were practically fucking hard into Monomas own body.
Monoma moaned out the most pornography moan you’ve ever heard.
His eyes crossed as his tongue stuck out.
You grabbed it with your fingers and watched as he lost himself with each thrust.
Shinsou couldn’t really touch Monoma but he could help you push his legs back.
He helped you and Monomas hole clenched around the strap as you and Shinsou continued to thrust into each other.
“FUCK, I’M GONNA CUM!” Monoma shouted.
You buried yourself inside of him as Shinsou did the same to you.
You both helped reach each other reach your high.
Monoma came, eyes crossed with legs back. Essentially in a mating press while Shinsou had you in doggy.
Monomas release was all over his chest as well as on your chest. Shinsous was deep inside of you, leaking out as he pulled out.
“F-fuck. Shit.” Shinsou picked you up from Monomas body and had to sit down inside the tub then going back to pick Monoma up and putting him in too.
He turned on the water and soaked with the two of you.
The warm water helping clean up the surface mess and relaxing your sore muscles.
The rain and thunder kept at it outside but you and your husband were relaxed and fulfilled.
The thunder no longer scaring you since your mind was in a haze.
“Thank you.” You kissed Shinsou and Monoma gently as you all washed away the evidence of your activities.
What a pleasant way to get rid of fear.
205 notes · View notes
one-small-nightmare · 3 years
Text
One Small Nightmare
Based on One Small Dream by @calcium-cat and my imagination. ( basically swapped except with different stuff or well interactions also I hope it’s fine to write this and also if ur reading this calcium cat I love ur one small Dream story!! Also I decided to write it here since I don’t know how to get a archive account thing )
Chapter 1
Nightmare teleported to his office, exhausted from the long day and after the battle with the star sanses. His brother tried many times to stop him from hurting AU’s and everything else that he’s done, of course, it didn’t really work. Eventually his brother gave up on that, the next battle with them though, he’ll probably be at it again. Nightmare grabbed a granola bar and ate it as he looked down at his work. Tapping his pencil on the desk, trying to think of what to write. Nothing came to mind. He let out a sigh and put down his pencil. He could continue this tomorrow, he was exhausted anyways and should probably get some sleep. He teleported to his bedroom and got into his bed, pulling up the sheets with his tentacles.
The next morning dust,killer, and cross were playing some cards while horror was in the kitchen preparing some breakfast. As nightmare passed by the three noticed him. “Good morning Nightmare!” Killer said. “Good morning..” nightmare sleepily replied, he yawned and went into the kitchen to get some coffee. That’ll probably help with getting him energized. “G’morning” Horror said as he waved to the goopy skeleton. “Good morning, Horror. What’s for breakfast?” Nightmare said as he started to brew his coffee. “I’m making some pancakes topped with fruits and eggs n bacon for breakfast. It’s almost ready.” Horror looked to the side and then looked slightly back at nightmare. “Did you sleep well? You look pretty tired.” He asked. “I slept fine, I just stayed up late with my work is all.” Nightmare said. The coffee finished brewing and he poured some into his cup, adding some sugar and milk. He then walked out of the kitchen and headed to his office. He still had some time to work before breakfast, he thought while sipping some of his coffee. He entered his office to see his paperwork all over the floor scattered around. He sighed and thought that he must’ve accidentally let it fall while getting up and didn’t notice since he was so tired. He let out a long sigh and began picking up all the papers. He finally finished picking them all up and put them on the desk, he sat down, taking another sip of his coffee. He began writing. A few minutes passed and he could smell the breakfast, horror must almost be done he thought. He took a sip of his coffee, but there was no coffee left. He also noticed that he was still pretty tired, which was a bit weird since he did just drink a whole cup of coffee. Horror then shouted “breakfast is ready!”. Nightmare teleported to the dining room and sat down. The others also arrived, sitting down and they began to eat....except they didn’t. They all were looking at nightmare with slightly worried expressions. “Why are you guys all looking at me..?” He said. “Are you sure you slept fine last night? You look even more tired.” Horror responded. “I’m fine. I think....” nightmare mumbled the last part so that it was barely heard. “Your sure..?” Cross replied. All of a sudden nightmare became extremely light headed and couldn’t think straight, he tried to respond but wasn’t able to. He could feel himself wobbling from side to side and he tried to keep himself stable. “N-nightmare?!” Killer worriedly said. Oh no, Nightmare knew that he might- Nightmare suddenly fell onto the floor his eyes starting to narrow. “NIGHTMARE!” the four shouted while rushing towards him. That was all nightmare heard and saw before he closed his eyes and passed out.
Nightmare opened his eyes to find a skeleton with yellow or golden eye lights looking down at him. “Night? Are you ok?” The skeleton said....wait that skeleton was....dream?! Nightmare quickly jolted up and looked at what seemed to be his brother. “D-Dream?” The skeleton smiled and said “yeah! Who else would it be.”
Nightmare couldn’t believe what he was seeing, he thought Dream hated him after everything happened and- nightmare looked down. He was back to...his normal self?!? “HOW AM I BACK TO NORMAL, I THOUGHT YOU HATED ME. WAIT THIS IS JUST A DREAM ISNT IT-“ “calm down night! This isn’t a dream, your not sleeping anymore. Also what do you mean by back to normal? You’ve always been like this. Also I’ve never hated you brother! I’ve always loved you and that won’t ever change!” “Dream” replied. “No no no no, this has to be a dream, it can’t be real it can’t be....this is just ALL FAKE” the last word echoed loudly and then a rumble was heard. All of a sudden a black goopy Tsunami was heading towards the tree that nightmare and “dream” were at. A goopy wave submerged “dream” and nightmare quickly attempted to climb the tree. He wasn’t as good of a climber as his brother but he should be fin- he slipped. Nightmares eyes widened as he held his breath and fell into the goopy ocean. He tried to swim up but couldn’t, he was too far down and couldn’t move for some reason. The goop was cold and dark, he could only see some light shining through until it was completely dark. He let out his breath and gasped for air but couldn’t. He was drowning in the goopy ocean that had taken his brother when all of a sudden nightmare opened his eyes and jolted up from his bed. He was breathing heavily. “Nightmare are you okay!?!?” Yelled a familiar voice. Wait, that wasn’t his brothers voice. He looked where he had heard the voice and saw horror and the other skeletons standing there, all looking at nightmare. Nightmare calmed down and sighed. “....yes...I’m fine....” he replied. “It doesn’t look fine to us. You literally passed out in the dining room and then you wake up breathing heavily out of nowhere!!” Cross shouted. Nightmare thought of what to say, he probably shouldn’t say that he had a dream or well Nightmare about his brother. “I just had a bad dream is all....” he finally replied. “Well that doesn’t explain you passing out, are you sure you actually slept well last night?!” Cross shouted again. “I’m sure!” Nightmare shouted back. Nightmare had actually slept fine last night, he wasn’t sure why he was feeling so tired. “Sigh I just don’t know why I’m so tired...” Nightmare added. “Guys maybe he needs some more negative energy.” Killer said. “We could destroy some AU’s! Come on guys let’s go!” Before nightmare could say anything they had all left. Nightmare sighed again and laid on his bed. He wondered why of all times he had a dream about, well, dream. It was more of a nightmare which he wasn’t used to since most dreams about his brother were usually happy memories except for..... when he fought the village. This was the first time he had a nightmare about his brother that wasn’t about the incident. He had a short nap and was feeling better. It must’ve been the work of the guys. He decided to get up and atleast eat something. He decided to walk since using magic might make whatever he had worsen even if he had a flow of negative energy currently which was boosting him. He went to the fridge and pulled out his plate of breakfast and boiled some water to make some chamomile and lavender tea. It usually helped him with sleeping and he did plan on taking a nap after having something to eat.
After eating his breakfast nightmare was heading back to his room when he heard a portal open. The guys were back, nightmare walked over to the living room were he saw the guys but....they were injured. “What happened?!?!” Nightmare exclaimed. “We met the star sanses while we were destroying some AU’s to help you” Killer responded. “Let me try to heal you guys-“ nightmare tried to say. “It’s fine you need to get some rest, we’ll heal our selves...” cross said. “No way, I’m going to heal you guys.” Cross and killer sighed and them and the rest of the guys let nightmare heal them. “How did the star sanses do this?!?” Nightmare asked. Dust replied “we don’t really know, they attacked us and somehow seemed stronger. Horror told us that we should go and-.....wait.....where’s horror...” everyone’s eyes widened as they looked at where the portal used to be. Horror had been left behind. “I’m going back for him” nightmare said. “You can’t, you have to rest! It’s too dangerous, we’ll handle it.” “No one leaves the castle while I’m gone, I don’t want you guys getting hurt again. It’ll be quick.” Nightmare said. Nightmare opened a portal and went through it. It closed behind him. “Good luck....” the three said.
I also don’t know why it keeps on spacing out really big like that, also go check out calcium-cat’s One Small Dream Story! It’s really good
113 notes · View notes
illfoandillfie · 3 years
Text
Pet Names, Double Dates and Other Fiascos
READ PLATONICALLY
Request:  SECOND ARO FIC OH MY GOD !!!! maybe them getting a lil dirty and ben really does a number on reader, so he takes her to mcdonalds or sumn and the waiter says something along the lines of “you’re such a cute couple!” and reader gets really uncomfortable with it maybe??? and ben being taking her home and cuddling her PLATONICALLY and he’s like “it’s ok we don’t need to let anyone else’s opinions affect us”
Pairing: Aromantic!Fem!Reader x Ben Hardy
Summary:  It's (nearly) all fun and games until someone assumes your relationship is romantic.
Warnings: Smut, kitchen sex, floor sex, oral sex (f receiving), a mild hint at choking, vaguely dom!Ben but not intentionally lmao, discussions of aromanticism and queerplatonic relationships, not as dialogue heavy as the first part though. 
Words: 7, 264
A/N: Happy Arospec Awareness Week!! Big thanks to the anon who sent in that request when I asked for ideas for future chapters. I put a little bit of a twist on your idea but it’s fundamentally the same. Also the last scene is one that I’ve been thinking about for literal months now and I finally managed to fit it into a fic! 
As always, if you’re curious about anything to do with aromanticism I am very happy to talk about it and answer questions! 
Tumblr media
Taglist:  @atomic-watermelon @kellypenac @labessieisallama​ @deakyclicks​ @jennyggggrrr​ @drowseoftaylor​ @hannafuckingsucks​ @i-cant-hangout-im-drumming​ @queenmylovely​ @ilovequeenmorethanyou​ @johndeaconshands​ @borhapbois​ @stardust-galaxies​ @cherries-n-rocknroll​ @scorpiogemini
The day had started off well. You woke with Ben tucked up under your arm, his legs curled up towards his chest since you’d stole the covers as you’d slept. Your face was pressed against the back of his neck and you felt him shift as you sighed sleepily and tried to keep from waking. Squeezing your eyes shut and pretending you hadn’t stirred must have worked because the next thing you knew was waking up to an empty bed and tinkly tapping sounds from somewhere else in the apartment. Groggily you shuffled out from the inviting comfort of the mattress, stretched, and pulled down the hem of the shirt you’d slept in to better cover your otherwise bare thighs before following the noises. You found Ben, still in his pyjamas (well, his boxer briefs) in the kitchen, dropping a couple of toasted waffles onto a plate, humming to himself.
“That for me?” you asked, stifling a yawn. “It can be,” he said, passing the plate to you with a quick kiss on your cheek, “There’s some cut up fruit and the maple syrup out on the coffee table and there’s coffee brewing over there,” “Thanks Benny,” “You’re welcome, Puddin’,” “Puddin’?” “I thought it was cute,” “Very cute.” You laughed as you reached for your coffee, unable to help but smile as you left the room. The first few months of your partnership had taken some adjusting and one thing Ben had decided he would do to make you both feel more at home with the dynamic was to come up with some non-romantic based terms of endearment for you. You’d vetoed things like baby and honey straight away, all of them a little too heavily skewed towards romance, or just reminders of past relationships you’d tried to force yourself into, for you to enjoy them. But, as Ben had said, he liked a good pet name, and he’d seemingly been determined to prove as much, constantly coming up with new things to call you. You, never really one for pet names anyway, mostly stuck with Benny or Benjamin if the situation called for something longer but you had a few other go-tos – things like Pet and Blondie as signs of affection, or Handsome and Tiger when you wanted to make him blush.
A few minutes later Ben joined you on the couch, placing his coffee down beside yours, almost spilling it as he watched the news story that was playing. “Remember we’ve got that double date with Jill and Martin this afternoon,” you said, the memory only just coming to you yourself. “Yeah, what time was that?” “Hang on, I’ll check the chat.” You scrolled through the messages on your phone with one hand while you ate with the other, “uhhh right, yeah, meeting at the bowling alley at 1.30.” “Bowling? Good, better than another shitty movie,” You laughed, “hey the last one they picked wasn’t too bad.” “Yeah I know, just not in the mood for it since I’ve been on set all week. I know if I went to the cinema now I’d just get distracted thinking about all the behind the scenes stuff which isn’t ideal for becoming invested in the story. Plus they’re always choosing romcoms, doesn’t that get annoying for you?” “Not really,” you shrugged, “I mean, do I sometimes wish they’d branch out? Sure. But I enjoy romance in fiction I just don’t need it in my real life. Don’t get me wrong though, very happy to do something different this time.” “How long d’you think we’ll be out?” You shrugged, “A few hours maybe?” “We should pop to the shop on the way back then. You need milk and we could get something nice for dinner.” “Sounds good. Does that mean you’re staying over again tonight?” “I was planning to, yeah. Barely saw you last week so I was hoping to spend all weekend with you to make up for it.” “Bet you regret agreeing to go out with them now,” “Kinda. S’pose it’s too late to cancel though,” “Nah you still could but you know they’ll get stroppy about it and we’ll have to go out with them next week. They don’t have any other couple friends since Neil and Percy split and Bianca took her fella overseas.” “Yeah, wasn’t seriously suggesting it.” “What would the plan have been if we did cancel?” Ben chewed a mouthful of fruit thoughtfully, “you, me, your bed. No need to be too quiet since Sophie’s still out,” he glanced at your roommate’s bedroom door, his eyes swinging back to you as he continued, “Or y’know, we could do a puzzle and listen to music all day, have a cat nap after lunch, whatever.” “You’re cute when you’re being all lazy,” “There would be nothing lazy about it thank you very much,” “Cat naps aren’t lazy?” “You know that’s not the part I was talking about,” “It wasn’t? Then what won’t be lazy,” you tried to hold back a giggle in the middle of your faux confusion but broke when Ben blew a raspberry at you in response.
Nothing more was said about cancelling as you finished your breakfast, though truthfully you probably wouldn’t have minded if Ben had cried off sick and rescheduled the double date. But you both decided that Sunday would be a day for just the two of you to make up for having to spend Saturday afternoon with others. Instead, you spoke of the week just passed and commented on the news still playing on the TV. When you were finished (Ben using the last corner of one of his waffles to swipe the remnant syrup from his plate) you stood and stacked the sticky dishes in your arms. Ben collected the coffee cups and a few other assorted dishes from the previous night, leading the way towards the kitchen and the dishwasher. He loaded his small collection onto the shelves before turning to grab the top plate from the pile you held. A noise of disgust rose from his throat as you held the plate out and he miscalculated the trajectory, his palm landing in a puddle of syrup and fruit juice. You were torn between laughing at his expression and taking the opportunity to toy with him a little but, always ready to tease him, your desire to see him blush won out. Trying not to smile too much, you reached forward and wrapped your hand around his wrist, pulling his palm closer so you could lick the sweet syrup from his skin. Predictably his cheeks turned pink and he pulled his lip between his teeth as you let him go with a laugh. “Bet you’re really wishing we didn’t have to go out now, huh Tiger?” Ben didn’t respond but he did react, his eyes locked on you as he swiped his fingers along the same plate and held them out in offering. Not quite sure where things were heading but very keen on finding out, you leaned forward and let your lips part slightly. He took the action for what it was, an invitation, and trailed his fingertips across your lower lip before slipping them between the two. He watched closely as you sucked his fingers deeper, using your tongue to lick up the sweet residue. There was still an element of novelty with this aspect of your partnership. Still part of you that was intensely aware that it was Ben’s fingers in your mouth. There wasn’t any hesitation though, hadn’t been since that first time when you’d both had to psych yourselves up to actually look at each other naked. But there was a part of your brain that was almost surprised when you found yourselves at the edge of a sexual situation. You suspected he was similarly discombobulated by how easy it was for you to end up there, how frequently playful teasing and friendly jokes turned into hands grasping at bed sheets and breathless moans against sweat-slick skin. He pulled his fingers free from your lips, unwilling or perhaps unable to shift his gaze away from the thin string of saliva that connected them like some kind of erotic spider web that you were both already caught in. You waited to see what he’d do next, feeling your heart race in the pregnant pause so full of potential. And then he moved. You laughed as he grabbed you around the waist and lifted you at the same moment he stepped towards the bench, your legs instinctively wrapping around him. He kissed you too, hungrily, as if it were impossible to resist. You’d looked down at him and suddenly been pulled towards each other, lips meeting with all the force and attraction of a magnetic field. Usually, he would have had a hand against the back of your head or your jaw but carrying you meant both his hands were already occupied so instead you substituted your own, tangling your fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck to keep him from pulling away too far. As soon as you were safely positioned on the edge of the bench though his hands were free to fall elsewhere. One pressed against the small of your back as the other squeezed your thigh, encouraging you to keep your legs spread. Not that you could have closed them with Ben standing between them and not that the thought had even crossed your mind.
If you’d had all day Ben probably would have taken his time with you. Despite what he’d said earlier, you’d discovered Ben had a soft spot for slow and sensual intimacy. Making out that gradually built to passionate kiss-filled sex, foreplay that included soft caresses and whispered praise, anything that let him explore your body in intricate detail with his hands and lips. You’d been with guys like that before and had hated their insistence on linking hands and kissing you slowly. Those relationships never lasted long but with Ben it felt different, it felt good. Maybe it was because he knew you weren’t on board with overtly romantic acts and respected those boundaries you’d talked about so you never felt as if he were pushing you into a roll you didn’t enjoy. Or maybe he was just a better lover than they had been. Either way, it came to same result. You still preferred something less gentle and more energetic, though you felt you better understood the appeal of being held so close and kissed so tenderly. But with only a few hours before you’d have to start getting ready, Ben was inclined to speed things up a little. His hand quickly slipped up your thigh to press against your pussy, the cotton knickers you’d slept in the only thing keeping him from direct contact. You broke the kiss suddenly, the smacking sound loud in the small room, and dipped your head to press your lips to the notch between his clavicles. In response, Ben lifted his chin, exposing more of his throat to you and you took the chance to playfully nip at the junction where his neck and shoulder met. “Oi, no marks,” he said lwoly as you moved to kiss back up towards his jaw. “Afraid I’ll brand you with my initials?” “If you could legibly write your initials in hickeys I’d put up with whatever teasing the makeup ladies gave me,” “I’ll give it a crack then shall I?” Before you could so much as flick your tongue over his skin, Ben had raised a hand and placed it over your mouth to keep you from testing our your writing abilities, “Don’t think theres enough time, Sugar, but if you really want to I’ll let you try tonight, on my thigh where no one is likely to see it.” “Make it your arse and you’ve got a deal,” you said though it was a little muffled by his palm. “Fine,” he laughed, drawing his hand away, “But then I get to try it on you too,” You nodded, grinning, and then both fell into giggles, leaning against each other’s shoulders. This was what you’d hoped for when Ben had first approached you with the idea of being partners, what you’d been afraid you’d never actually find. Someone who would follow your tangential jokes even if it delayed sex. Someone you could be yourself with. You were distracted from the thought as Ben pressed his lips to your shoulder over the sleeve of your shirt. “Should I continue?” he asked, still smiling though softer, his fingertips lightly dancing over the crease of your thigh. “I’d be offended if you didn’t” “Can’t have that,” he leaned in to catch your lips once again, at the same time resuming stroking you over your panties so that you felt all the air leave your lungs in a rush. It felt good but you need more and so shifted your hips, trying to press yourself harder against his fingers. To get more leverage and better brace yourself as your centre of gravity changed, you dropped a hand behind you. Intuitively, Ben shifted the hand on your back higher and closer to your side to help keep you steady, the other still drawing lines along your clothed slit. You gasped as his thumb took up residence against your clit, rubbing it firmly so a visible damp patch began to form on your panties.
Ben grinned at you as your breath came harder and dragged his thumb back down away from your clit towards the leg of your underwear. Still watching your reactions, he twisted his fingers up under the material, gently tracing them along the same path they’d just followed only now he could feel your wetness directly. “I’ve got an idea,” he said, leaning close to your ear, as he circled your entrance with a fingertip before pressing it into you, “of how I’d like to fuck you right now. It might take a little flexibility on your part though. I mean, nothing too much, just getting your legs up on my shoulders.” Curious, and more than a little distracted by the addition of a second finger inside you, you nodded, “Sounds fun.” “Knew you’d say that. Just tell me if it’s too uncomfortable,” “Will do.” You leaned forward as Ben moved back a little, taking his fingers with him, giving you enough room to drop your hand to his crotch and grasp his stiff length through his undies, “Just get on with it.” “Puddin’ was too nice a nickname for you. Sugar too.” he gasped as you dragged your palm along his length and back again. “What’s the matter, Tiger?” “Maybe I should call you Tiger, if you’re going to keep grabbing my cock like that,” You laughed and let him go, leaning back on your palm again, “Tigress? Whatever, doesn’t matter. Are you going to fuck me or not?” “No I just wanted to get my dick hard for no reason,” he said sarcastically, poking his tongue out at you as he pushed his underwear down. “You’re such a –” you broke off with a sharp gasp as Ben tugged your underwear aside and pressed into you without warning, “dork.” Ben chucked and leaned in to kiss you quickly before readjusting your position a little by pulling you closer to him so your arse was right against the edge of the bench. Slowly he rolled his hips against you, pulling back and thrusting forward again, finding a rhythm that worked. You leaned back on both palms as Ben grabbed you by the waist, the other resting on your knee to keep it pressed against his side. “This feel alright?” he asked as he gave another thrust, hitting a spot deep inside you. “Mmhmm,” you nodded, able to feel yourself growing wetter with each stroke of his cock. “What about this?” Ben shifted first one of your legs and then the other to his shoulders, encouraging you to bend them at the knee. His hands moved to your sides, fingertips digging into your back as he pressed you even closer. The effect was that you felt as if you were almost folded in half but it wasn’t too uncomfortable. There was an almost weightless feeling to it and any slight awkwardness you felt with your chest meeting your thighs was a small price to pay for just how good Ben felt once again moving inside you. You tightened your fingers against the benchtop, wishing there was something you could grab onto as your whole body rocked with each of his thrusts, the position allowing him to penetrate you deeply, continuously brushing against a number of spots that sent electric spikes of pleasure through you. “Fuck,” was about all you could think to say. “That a good fuck?” Ben questioned, voice gruff with his exertions. “Yeah, yes, fuck, so good,” “So you like when I do this?” You let out a soft moan as he roughly fucked into you again, timing it just right. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he half laughed, turning his head to kiss your leg before leaning forward to catch your lips again. After that there wasn’t much room for talking. Ben, having assured himself that you were happy, speeded up his rhythm, clutching you tightly to keep your legs from slipping off his shoulders. His breathing became rougher, matching your own, as he drove into you, though he still kissed you as much as he could, panting against your lips, swallowing your moans and pushing whatever air he had into your lungs.
You could feel your orgasm bubbling up, like a pot of water on the verge of boiling, but knew Ben would reach his first, recognising his expression as the one he wore when he was trying to hold back from the edge. “Fu-ck you’re s-so tight,” he grunted, squeezing his eyes shut as he leaned his forehead against yours, “gonna have to pull out soon,” You could feel him pulling away and tightened your calves on either side of his neck in an effort to stop him, needing just a little more to reach your own release. “Not helping,” he groaned, suddenly unable to hold off any longer, “Shit. Y/N.” You whined as he stilled to shoot his release over your walls. “Jesus,” he said a little breathlessly, as he pulled out, your underwear slipping back over you, and rubbed his neck absentmindedly, “Didn’t expect that to finish me off. Did you…?” You shook your head, letting your leg slip to be caught in the crook of Ben’s arm. “Well let’s fix that, shall we,” he said, already letting you go to bend forward, his face right between your thighs. You felt a puff of his hot breath against you as he hooked his index finger into the crotch of your knickers, pulling it aside, and then his tongue was on you, lapping up your arousal and coming to rest against your clit. He set up camp there, focusing all his attention on the small nub. You let yourself drop back so you were holding yourself up on one elbow, your other hand on the back of Ben’s head, tugging on his hair as he drew a series of moans from you. With a particularly firm suck, you felt your cunt pulse and something warm and wet ran from you, dripping over the edge of the bench onto the cupboard door. You had an idea what it was so it surprised you when Ben released your clit to lick between your lips, catching it with his tongue and spreading it along your slit. “We taste good together,” he mumbled, going in to trace the same path over again, greedily licking up the mixture. You swore under your breath, feeling yourself right on the edge of your orgasm, unspeakably turned on by Ben lapping up the load he’d just left in you. Sensing how close you were he dragged his tongue over your clit again, quickly sliding two fingers into you to help you along. You whined his name as he pushed you over the edge, continuing to pump his fingers into you as he again sucked at your clit, not stopping until he was sure it had worked. “Thank you,” you said as he straightened up again, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You’re such a dork,” he laughed as he kissed you again, tracing his tongue over yours. The man clearly wanted you lightheaded from lack of air. “Shut up,” you pushed yourself to sit up straight again, expecting Ben to step away and let you hop down from the bench. He didn’t though, instead absentmindedly toying with the leg of your underwear as his gaze fell to your lips. “Seriously?” Ben shrugged, “Eating you out made me hard again. And,” he quickly ran his fingers along the edge of the bench, collecting some of the mess you’d left there, “I think it’s only fair you should taste us too,” If he’s said it less earnestly you might have batted his hand away and laughed off the suggestion but something about his tone made you grab his wrist to pull his fingers towards your mouth. He hadn’t been wrong, the mix of you both did taste pretty good, though you’d already got a hint of it as he’d kissed you. “Good girl,” he breathed out, eyes heavy with lust, “think you’re up for more?” “Can we move elsewhere? The edge of the counter is digging into me.” “Okay,” Ben began tugging your underwear down and kicked off his own before pulling your shirt over your head, making you laugh. He Helped you stand and then immediately pushed you to the floor. For a moment you thought he was suggesting you give him a blowjob and were about to question him but half a second later he was following you down, laying down and pulling you on top. “I meant like the bed or the couch at least,” you said somewhere between incredulity and amusement. “Too far,” he grunted, bucking his hips to encourage you to mount him properly, “need you now.” You rolled your eyes as you sank down onto his dick, “Do I actually get to cum this time or…?” “Only if you move,” Ben growled as he grasped your hips and pulled you down onto him, making you cry out at the unexpectedly sudden sensation of being filled. He let you ride him for a bit, alternating between squeezing your thigh as he rubbed his thumb over your clit and cupping your breasts, teasing your nipples as he encouraged you to fuck yourself on his cock faster. You kept to the same steady pace though, intending to drag it out a little, make him wait. But it wasn’t long before he got fed up with the deliberately slow pace you’d cultivated. Without warning you found yourself on your back, Ben grasping your thighs as he kneeled over you, pulling your hips up a little so he could fuck you the way he wanted. Your voice shook as you moaned and writhed in his shadow, your own fingers dancing over your clit to keep building your orgasm. “Isn’t that better?” he said roughly, laughing a little as you nodded your agreement, “Making me wish I had cancelled our plans. Could stay in your pussy all day.” You whimpered and rubbed your clit harder. “C’mon Pumpkin, so close aren’t ya,” You squeezed your eyes shut, moaning when you finally tipped over the edge. But that didn’t stop Ben. He waited until your orgasm had subsided and then pushed your legs wide and up into the air so he could lay directly on top of you as he continued to pound you. Your voice shook as a moan was pulled from your throat and you squirmed beneath him, feeling yourself once again being drawn towards release. There was something about his weight pressing down on you, his breath against your ear. Something about how close he seemed, almost panting as his hips stuttered in and out of the rhythm he was desperately trying to hold on to. He mouthed at your neck as you tilted your head to accommodate him, reaching a hand down to squeeze his arse cheek. You were sore from every other way he’d fucked you, tired from the two orgasms he’d already wrung from you, and yet the thought of stopping him, of ending the incredible pleasure you felt at his hands, was the furthest thing from your mind. A scream caught in your throat as he seemed to press you even harder into the floor, your legs shaking in the air as he grit his teeth and grunted with each harsh drive into you. And then he came, gasping against your throat as he felt you cum too, finally releasing the scream you’d been holding onto until the noise turned to breaths so ragged they felt like sobs.
Ben kissed your throat and then your jaw as he came back to earth, still laying on you. “How was that?” he asked softly when you’d remained quiet for a while. You drew in a deep breath, “Pum-Pumpkin?” “What?” “You called me fucking Pumpkin of all things, while trying to get me off?” “So?” “Jesus Ben,” you half-heartedly swatted at his side, “you’re lucky I was so close that it didn’t matter otherwise I might have laughed and completely lost the orgasm.”   Ben joined in your laughter, the sensation of his shaking body on top of yours slightly odd but mostly quite comforting. Until he shifted his hips without thinking and made you wince. “Sorry,” he said, pressing his lips to yours again as if to kiss away the discomfort before he gingerly pulled out of you and sat back on his knees, “But you did cum that time, right?” “I think you know I did,” you sighed, already able to see what was coming, as you let your legs drop to the floor. “So wait, how many times exactly?” You sighed and shook your head slightly. “Because if my maths is right, I think we got you to three times. Once on the bench and twice on the floor. One plus two is three, yes?” “Yes that’s how basic addition works Ben,”  “And who was it again that got you to three orgasms? Was it,” he pointed a finger as his one chest, “Moi?” “Alright asshole, you’re very impressive and a somewhat decent shag,” “I think you could be a little more grateful considering that performance. Might have been my best ever moves,” You pushed Ben in the middle of the chest, exaggeratedly rolling your eyes but, truthfully you were inclined to agree that it had been his best performance yet, at least in your experience. “Here let me help you,” he chuckled as you tried to stand, almost falling over as your legs shook. Quickly, Ben pushed himself to his feet and then offered you a hand up too, wrapping an arm around your waist to keep you steady. “Thanks,” “I hope I haven’t made it too hard for you to walk. Wouldn’t want to throw off your bowling cos you were fucked so right.” “Jesus Christ,” you couldn’t help but laugh.
The rest of the time you had before you had to leave was spent tidying up the kitchen, cleaning up the evidence of the mornings activities in case your roommate got home before you, washing up and getting ready to go. Which is really when things started to go downhill. If you’d realised you might have told yourself to stay home, come up with a quick excuse to get out of it and just played video games with Ben for the rest of the day or something. But there was no way to know what was coming so you didn’t. You talked happily as you got into Ben’s car (which was already parked on the street), excited to see your friends and looking forward to the afternoon.
The double date itself was quite fun, although draining. There was always an element of playing pretend at these sorts of occasions. Not that you minded so much. It was either play up the romance of your relationship or have to explain what you were to everyone and a few hours of pretending Ben was your boyfriend was honestly much simpler. At least bowling was better than the cinema. The first time you’d gone on a double date to a movie you’d sat down beside Ben, the popcorn you were sharing balanced on the arm rest between you. Martin and Jill had raised their armrest and were virtually sitting on top of each other, hands entwined. Which would have been fine except Martin had leaned over and said, “you know these things move” and looked expectantly at you. Ben and you had shared a glance and then tried to say you were both fine with the space but they’d given you matching looks that said they thought you were being weird or prudish or judging their willingness to cuddle in public. So you’d relented and shifted the armrest so you could spend the next two hours sitting with Ben’s arm around your shoulders, both of you more tense about the situation than you ever would have been if you’d just been allowed to sit in your seats like normal. Things had improved a bit since then. Ben had told you that one night when you’d gone out to a bar together, Martin had pulled him aside as asked why he never kissed you properly. Ben had shrugged and said he didn’t like PDAs, that he didn’t want photos to spread or anything like that, especially since it was still so new, and Martin had accepted it. They began to see that your ways of being affectionate were quieter, stealing sips from each other’s drinks, a warm hand against a knee, dumb nicknames that made you both laugh. Even if Jill did sometimes still try to convince you that there was nothing wrong with snogging in the middle of a busy street. Nonetheless you never felt fully able to relax when it was just the four of you. Always conscious of how they saw you, always worried that they’d decide you weren’t being affectionate enough and would tell everyone else you were going through a rough patch which would lead to more scrutiny. While at the same time worrying that one of them would start asking how serious it was between you and Ben, were you thinking about the future? Could you see yourselves moving in together? Was he the one? And it took a lot of energy to constantly be alert about what you were saying, always careful to not accidentally give away the secret truth of the situation. Bowling was fun though and less pressure than other double dates you’d been on. You could get away with not holding hands or sitting on Ben’s lap since everyone was standing up frequently and it didn’t make sense to be on top of one another. You could share small pecks on the lips or else tight hugs to celebrate strikes. And Ben made sure to tease you for missed pins, just like he always had, with a few added silly nicknames. He called you his sweet little hotdog after a particularly bad gutter shot which had made you laugh so hard you choked on your drink, and made Jill give him a disapproving glance. He’d smoothed it over by letting her overhear him saying he loved you, whispering the platonically just for you.
By the time Jill had been declared the winner of the game, you were ready to head home and spend a night forwarding Ben weird videos and dumb memes. Ready to be allowed to just exist without needing to be romantically linked to anyone. But it wasn’t quite to be. Martin made the suggestion that all of you should head to McDonalds for dinner and before you knew it you were standing in line, waiting for the kid at the cash register to serve you. You leaned your head on Ben’s shoulder as you stared at the menu, and vaguely wondered how someone working in a fast food joint could be so bright and bubbly. Right up until Ben nudged you and asked what you wanted. “Um, can I get a quarter pounder and a frozen coke, thanks.” “And?” Ben supplied. “And what?” “Y/N I know you want dessert, get dessert.” “And an Oreo McFlurry,” you smiled and bumped Ben’s shoulder with yours as he laughed and finished paying. “You guy’s make a cute couple,” the girl who’d served you said, eyes following the path of Ben’s gaze to you, still smiling. She seemed to realise what she’d said, her ears turning red, but Ben thanked her and added, “I think I have to agree,” as he squeezed your hip, before moving away so Jill and Martin could order. You’d smiled at her too but it wasn’t quite genuine.
It wasn’t that you weren’t used to it, people assuming you and Ben were in fact a couple. You were. One or two weeks after you’d first agreed to try out being queerplatonic partners, most of your friends had put two and two together and worked out that something was going on between you. Of course they didn’t know you were aromantic and they probably didn’t have any idea what a QPR was so they’d really added two and two and got five but you weren’t about to correct them. As you’d said to Ben, it was too much too soon to do that. Maybe if the QPR thing worked out long term, maybe then you could tell them. And besides, they weren’t exactly wrong anyway. They’d originally assumed you and Ben were just hooking up after Martin had dropped in to pick up something he’d left at Ben’s and had seen you spread out on Ben’s couch with sex hair and a rather large hickey on your neck and Ben’s sweater hanging off your shoulder. He’d asked Ben who’d just shrugged in response and said it wasn’t a big deal. You estimated it took about a minute and a half to reach everyone else. The next time you’d gone out as a group you’d felt them all watching you and Ben closely, trying to determine if Martin with bullshitting them all or not. They’d all decided it was just sex though. Until you were clearly still together a month later and they decided it had to be serious since Ben had never successfully fucked a girl for that long without catching feelings. That was when they started referring to you as boyfriend and girlfriend. That was also when the comments about how cute you were or how they’d always known you’d get together had first started. The first few times you’d heard it, it felt weird but you figured that was just because it was you and Ben and you were still working out how to be partners without the romance. You’d been in relationships before though and didn’t have any major objections to anything they said so you found it fairly easy to deal with and mostly you didn’t notice it anymore.
Except now it was bothering you. Something about the girl’s comment had rubbed you the wrong way. Which made you feel bad because she was just a kid with a shitty minimum wage job who didn’t know you from Adam. She had no idea. She was just trying to say something nice to a couple of strangers. You supposed your dislike of the comment probably had something to do with spending all afternoon putting on the romantic act for the benefit of your friends. Maybe even something about the sex from earlier. Probably just exhaustion from everything, a shorter fuse. It could even just be PMS though you’d have to check how far off your next period was to be sure. Whatever the reason it felt…not wrong exactly just off. You stayed quiet during most of the meal, aware you weren’t being great company and aware that Ben had realised something was wrong since he kept glancing at you when the other two weren’t looking. “Y/N,” Jill’s voice cut through your thoughts, “Still with us?” “Yeah,” you said, pulling a smile onto your face, “sorry, just a bit tired. Didn’t sleep well last night,” That statement was met by high pitched oohing noises and Martin jokily reprimanding Ben for keeping you up. You forced yourself to laugh with them, “Not like that you pervs. Ben was filming a night scene yesterday so didn’t actually get to mine until what,” you looked to Ben for confirmation, “One-thirty was it?” “Something like that. I don’t know I fell asleep almost as soon as I put my head down.” “Me, not so much,” you shrugged, “It’s all just catching up with me now.” They accepted that excuse without question and didn’t aim too many more comments in your direction, letting you finish your food without having to keep your mind on their conversation. And pretty soon you were hugging them goodbye and promising you’d organise the next date as Martin told Ben to get you home to bed before you fell asleep in your ice cream.
Ben waited until you were safely back inside your apartment before he asked if you were okay. “We were meant to get milk,” you sighed, trying to push away the annoyingly persistent discomfort. “I’ll go out later and get some. Or we can get Sophie to bring some back when she comes home. Are you okay though?” Unsure if this was a situation where you’d want space, Ben hovered at a respectful distance until you stepped in close and leaned your head against his chest. As soon as he knew you wanted him there he wrapped his arms tightly around you, “What’s wrong?” “Not sure. Think it all just got a bit much.” “How do you mean?” You shrugged as much as his embrace would allow and talked against his chest as you tried your best to explain how flat you felt, “I think the girl who served us was just like the straw that broke the camel’s back, y’know.” “Did me agreeing with her make things worse?” You shook your head, “Don’t think so. I knew you meant it in a different way to her. Besides, the other two were in earshot so there wasn’t much else you could say.” “You know that what everyone else thinks of us doesn’t change anything about what we have, right, or what we mean to each other. It doesn’t change who you are.” You didn’t mean to say it but the words had escaped before you could stop them, “Wouldn’t it be easier if it did though.” “But then you wouldn’t be you and I love you, platonically.” You smiled and nodded as you stepped back a little, though Ben’s arms wouldn’t let you go too far, “I know, thank you. And I’m fine, just having a bit of an off afternoon.” “Are you sure? Is there anything else I can do to help?” “No, you’ve been perfect.” You leaned up to give him a quick kiss, “And I know I’m being stupid about it. I knew what I was signing up for when I decided not to come out to them. Besides, being back home with you has definitely made me feel better already.” “Do you want a cuppa or anything?” “Nah, think I might just go lie down and read for bit. Decompress a little, y’know.” “Okay. Give me a shout if you want anything, yeah,” he pressed a kiss to your temple and give you an extra squeeze before he let you go.
Slowly you headed to your bedroom, kneeling down at your bookshelf and running your fingers along the spines until you found the one you wanted. That particular book had seen better days. It’s spine was cracked, the image on the cover peeling away from the cardboard underneath. More than one page had begun to fray around the edges like an ancient treasure map in a cartoon, with little triangles missing and the corners permanently creased where they’d been dog eared a hundred times. But as you settled into the bed, Ben’s pillow still smelling faintly of his hair pomade, you began to feel more yourself. Ben was right. What other people thought of your relationship didn’t matter. He was still your Ben, the same Ben who’s hoodie had been living in your cupboard for years now because he spent so much time at yours anyway it just made sense to keep a spare there. The same Ben who’d bought you your favourite pair of sunglasses when you’d left your old ones at home by accident. The same Ben who’d gradually been reading his way through your entire bookshelf rather than buying his own paperbacks. You had too much history there and too much love for each other for anyone else’s opinions to matter. And your partnership was good. It made you happy so it had to be good.
The time passed quickly as you read so when you looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps and saw that a couple of hours had passed, you were a little taken aback. Ben poked his head round the corner and then stepped through the doorway when he saw you looked better. “Nice to see you smiling again,” he said softly as he crawled up beside you. Without thinking you lifted your arm so he could snuggle against you, his head on your chest. “What’re you reading?” “First Test by Tamora Pierce. First book in her Protector of the Small series.” “What’s it about?” “A girl training to become a knight. Gran bought it for me as a kid while we were on a holiday at the seaside.” Ben glanced at the worn pages, “Do you reread it a lot?” “Yeah a bit. The main character, Kel, is like the only aromantic character I know of so she’s kinda important to me.” “The main character’s aro?” “I mean, not explicitly. It was published in ’99 and the terminology to describe aro experiences didn’t really start being used until like the late 2000s and even then only in certain communities online. But Tamora Pierce did answer some questions on her website and said that as she was writing the series Kel became less and less interested in romance and sex so even though she didn’t have the words for it back then, she would consider Kel aro and probably ace too. And I mean, rereading them I definitely feel an aro sort of reaction to a lot of the romance stuff, even when Kel does start kissing boys and all that.” Ben leaned back to better see your face, “Will you read to me?” You leaned down to kiss him, unhurriedly, softly, letting your lips linger on his. “Is that a yes?” “That was a sorry I’ve been weird this evening kiss actually.” “Don’t worry about it,” he said simply, snuggling back down, his head once again resting on your chest and his arm thrown over your waist. You adjusted your grip on the book and began to read from where you’d left off, one hand running absentmindedly through his hair, both of you sighing softly as you relaxed into each other.
133 notes · View notes
remmyswritings · 4 years
Text
our secret pt. 2//regulus black x reader
Hello my beautiful Puffs!!! So I wrote this pretty early this morning, and while I just went over it again just now, please excuse any mistakes you find (dw @kashishwrites​ i did go back to sleep) Anyway I hope y’all like this <3 :) 
taglist: @willowbleedsonpaper​ @summer-writes​ @obsessedwithrandomthings​ @firewhisky-kisses​ @potterverseimagine​ @in-slytherin-we-trust​ @masterofthedarkness​ @imboredandneedalife​ @lila-lilakk​ @strawberriesonsummer​ @kalimagik​ @62442-am​ @nebulablakemurphy​ @curious-curios​ @jenniweaslee​ @cherrycolakxsses​ @peeves-a-legend​ @booksmusicteaandanimals​ @heart-of-tempered-steel​ @kashishwrites​ @siriusly-addicted-to-writing​ @redbulletxxxworld​ @pcseidcnsvoid​
part 1 
*Not my GIF, credit to creator*
Tumblr media
It had been a year- a very long year- since that fateful day at Hogsmeade where you finally convinced Regulus to let his brother- and by extension his brother’s friends- help him stay alive. Of course with Regulus now working as a double agent for the Order it was getting harder and harder for the two of you to spend time together. He was a skilled enough Legilimens so that You Know Who wouldn’t have a clue but around you, everything went away. You were, and still are, his one weakness. That’s why sitting across from him after the Order meeting had ended, telling everyone about his plan to replace the horcrux you knew you had to act. 
“Reg,” you reached your hand out to him hoping the physical contact would make him look at you for the first time in weeks, “can we talk?”
He still wouldn’t look at you completely but he nodded, so you took that as an improvement. 
You pulled him aside hoping that nobody would disturb the two of you, “Mi amor, can you please look at me? Please?”
His eyes shifted down and caught yours and the second they did you realized why he hadn’t looked at you before- he was terrified and you were the only person he showed any emotion to. You threw yourself into his arms hoping that at least the physical comfort might help a bit. His body tensed slightly at first since it had been quite some time since the two of you had touched only to relax completely, as if his body were putty. One of his hands went to your lower back while the other ran itself through your hair, his face hiding in that little spot in your neck. You swore you felt something wet but honestly you didn’t care… you finally had Regulus in your arms.
“I love you so much Regulus. I hope you know that, and I’m so proud of you,” you started your little speech. “But please for the love of everything good in the world don’t push me away- not now. I need you, I need to feel your heartbeat in the morning and need to be able to run my hands through your hair. I need to hear you read poetry to me on the weekends and hear you sing those French songs in the shower. I need to see you lying next to me when I go to sleep at night and when I wake up again in the morning. Please stop doing this.”
He nodded again and his hold on you tightened even more, “I’m sorry my love. I’m sorry for pushing you away and for hurting you in the process. I just- I worry that someone will figure out who you are and what you mean to me. And if it weren’t for this war, we’d probably already be married and I’d have found us a beautiful flat to stay in and you would have an amazing job with the Ministry. And I want to have that with you, but I can’t- not until I finish this.”
“We can at least start it- our plans for the future,” you pulled away slightly so that you could look at him, “Let’s get married… tonight.”
Regulus at first look bewildered but understand where you were coming from. After all tomorrow he’d go on a mission where he could basically end up dead, so if anything were to happen (fingers crossed it doesn’t) then at least the two of you would be married.
“Ok, but who will officiate it?” You could see the light in his eyes that had dimmed over the past week, reignite itself.
“Um…” you looked around the room where you all were, “I think we can get Remus to do it, and we have enough people here as witnesses.”
Regulus nodded his head and turned around to face the others in the room. They had seen the two of you talk for quite some time now but out of respect had decided not to eavesdrop, although you had made it difficult for them to even try in the first place.
“We’ve decided we want to get married tonight,” the announcement was met with excitement. 
After a little bit of coordinating, you were whisked away by Lily and Sirius while Remus and James helped Regulus get ready. You were quite surprised when Sirius said he’d be with you but in his words “I want to finally spend some one-on-one time with my soon-to-be sister-in-law. Plus Regulus won’t let me touch his hair.”
Thankfully, you had a dress hidden away from several months ago when you were given the chance to go to muggle London. It wasn’t a white dress but that fact seemed to make it even more unique. You were soon helped into your dress and your hair put into a beautiful updo. You didn’t have any flowers to hold or a veil in your hair, but you still felt like you were a princess. 
When you were finally ready, and everyone else in the house was dressed up, you were led outside to the backyard. With just a little bit of magic, small lights filled the air between you and your love. Lily, who had become something of a sister to you since you arrived, walked you down the makeshift aisle. 
By the time you had met Regulus, tears had started to fall from your eyes and you could see that the same was happening with him. There was not a dry-eyed soul in the vicinity. 
After that, everything became a blur… at least until you got to the vows. When Regulus started to read his, you weren’t sure if you would be able to make it through yours.
My love,
Since the very first day we met I knew you would be someone important to me. Even at eleven years old, you were quite good at reminding me when I was acting like a pretentious ass, but I wouldn’t want anyone else in the world calling me out with the sass that you do.
I think we can all agree that you are my better half. Whenever I look at you all I see is light, absolute pure light. You make everything around me seem so much better and you’ve taught me what it means to be a good person. I don’t think I would even be here right now if it weren’t for you. 
You are everything I wish to be and more, my love.
Your hands trembled as you pulled out the paper with the vows you had written one day, with the plan for them to be used much much later.
Mi amor,
I can’t imagine a life where I wake up without you by my side. You’ve taught me what it means to be resilient and determined, especially in the face of fear and evil. And what love looks like. I mean to me you are the definition of true love. 
When I think of us and what we’ve been through I think of all those moments we had together, where it was just about us. There is no one else who I’d want to sass at some point in my day, and there is no one else who I would want by my side when I fight. 
You may think that I’m your better half, but to be quite honest it’s the opposite. Being your friend, and then your lover, you have taught me so much that I can’t possibly put it into words even though I tried. 
I can’t wait to start our future together, mi amor.
By the time you had finished, everyone had started to sob. That night as much as worry filled the air, so did love. When Remus finally said the words “you may kiss the bride” Regulus had almost swept you off your feet- not that you minded. 
The two of you were led back inside where your new marriage was celebrated with day old cake and some left over wine. You didn’t care though, all you felt was happiness and hope that tomorrow would turn out okay. 
For the first time in weeks, Regulus and you slept together in the same bed. You didn’t do anything that night except hold one another in your arms and whisper I love yous throughout the night. The next morning, you were thankful to have woken up first, being given the chance to see your husband look so peaceful was something that you loved. Your husband, there was something about even thinking those words that set a fire in you. 
When the time came, Regulus and you went down to the kitchen where you would wait with the others for his return. It was a nerve-wracking several hours, so much so that Sirius had to grab you by the shoulders to stop your pacing. 
Finally, Regulus appeared close to death and you weren’t sure whether to scream or cry. You rushed over to him, a mere heap on the floor, and with some struggle lifted him into the sofa. Your hands didn’t stop moving until every cut was sealed and no more blood was pouring out of him. By the end, you had to be dragged towards the bathroom and have your hands cleaned, not wanting to leave Regulus alone. 
5 days. 5. 
That’s how long it took for Regulus to wake up. By then every Order member knew not to bother you as you sat by your husband. Sirius would sit with you occasionally and would constantly make sure you ate and drank water… something about how his little brother would kill him if he found out that nobody had made sure you were okay. 
When those grey, stormy eyes opened, the tears that you had held back when he arrived broke through. 
“Sirius!” You called out, “Sirius! He’s awake.”
You had to hold yourself back from simultaneously tackling Regulus out of happiness now that he was awake and hitting him out of anger for almost dying.
The two brothers spoke in private as you were sent to go drink some water. You weren’t sure how long you stood there, leaning against the counter until you saw Regulus out of the corner of your eye holding himself up with the doorframe.
“What are you doing up?” You rushed over to him, “You should be lying down.”
“So this is the first thing I hear from my beautiful wife,” he smirked slightly.
“Oh- if you were expecting me to be mad, I am. I am very mad at you,” you cupped his cheeks with your hands, squeezing them slightly, “but I’m also very very happy that you’re alive and standing in front of me. So this is what you get.”
Regulus wrapped you in his arms and although he told you he was fully healed, the face he made told you otherwise. 
Some days later, Dumbledore stopped by and told you that it would be best for the two of you to flee. You Know Who has gotten word about a traitor in his midst and Regulus’ absence had made him a suspect. The two of you packed your things and then spent that night together with your little family that had formed in the past year. 
You all cried, laughed, and screamed one last time. Then Regulus picked up your bags and wrapped you up in his arms.
“One day,” he started, “when this is all over. We’ll come back. I promise my love.”
With a pop, the two of you disappeared into the night, heading to who knows where to start your new life together. 
225 notes · View notes
teeswrites · 3 years
Text
Tattoos- C.H
Tattoos
Was a fresh day in LA, the weather was cool and that was why she liked the mornings 'cause the air was stills a little cold, a good cold, and she loved that feeling of the sweat emerging from her body and mixing up with the cool air. She put on her AirPods and went for a hike. Her usual route. Something about an hour later she decided to head back home for a good shower and maybe some breakfast. The sweat made her feel gross and her legs and thighs were burning already, so, yeah it was time to turn around and make her way back. When she arrived at her lawn she saw him sitting on the doorstep, smoking a cigarette and staring at the blue sky. Watching the white smoke fade away to the atmosphere. She smiled and felt her heart beating faster, stopping in front of him and waving her hand in front of his face "Earth to Calum, Mr. Hood are you there?" he looked into her eyes and smiled what made her smiled too "hey, beautiful" his voice came out like a whisper "'re you alright?" "I'm pretty sure that 'm way better now" "what are you doing here?" "good to see you too" she rolled her eyes "you know what I meant" he grinned "want to talk with you" "okay, just will take a shower first" she grabbed her keys and opened the door "are you coming?" he threw the cigarette on the floor and stubbed with his plaided Vans and followed her inside. Once the door was closed he pulled her closer and rested his hands on her hips pressing her against his body, her hands caressing his chest "are you really okay?" "yeah, just missed you" he was in Sidney visiting his parents for the last two weeks "missed you too" she squeezed his shoulders and slipped her hands to his neck and kept there. He tried to kiss her, but she didn't let him "what's wrong?" "I am gross" "what?" "I was running, so I'm sweaty and gross" "you are not gross and I kinda like you that way" she blinked in confusion "you know? Wet..." he blushed at his own words, she giggled "oh, behave!" he laughed squeezing his eyes "I am being honest" "I appreciate it, but I will shower anyways" "oh, come on… 2 weeks without you" he was almost begging and his gaze was burning hers "needing you so bad..." he pouted, but she smiled naughtily and escaped from his hands, making her way upstairs to the bathroom. He followed her and stopped at the doorway where leaned his shoulder and stood to watch her undress "Like what you see?" she teased and he nodded in agreement looking like a 13 years old virgin boy that never saw a naked woman out of a Playboy magazine cover before, what made she smile "are you amused with my despair?" "More than I should" "was long two weeks..." he blushed again and rubbed his neck "know that. My fingers are killing me" she stretched her fingers, winked at him and walked towards the bathroom letting an embarrassed Calum by himself. He slowly walked inside her bedroom and stopped at the bathroom's doorway "hey..." "yes?" "Can I join you?" "I thought you'll never ask. Come in" he unclothed himself and entered into the small space, enjoying the warmth of the hot water and struggling to not look at her body. He knew that they have a 'thing', but did not wants to be disrespectful with her, even that keep his eyes away from her shapes was almost an impossible mission. She, otherwise, gave a good look in his body almost eating him with her gaze "heya" he took her off the trance that his beauty put her in, making her look to his face and smile "hey" he swallowed nervously, he always felt a little bit nervous when was with her "you always feel that nervous when you're with a girl?" "Uh, depends" "of what?" she moved closer and put her hands on his chest, making him feel more nervous than before "well, I really like you" he rubbed his nape and she smiled "like you too" he tried to kiss her again, but she escaped once more "I'm still gross" "you still look good for me" she chuckled and bit her bottom lip "thanks" he tried again, but she still didn't let him "no! I'm dirty" "you are always dirty. Especially your mind" they laughed together "well, look who is thinking dirty now" she
teased "learned with the best" she licked her lips, grabbed a bar of soap and finally began to soap up and clean all that sweat from her. He stopped fighting with himself and let his gaze fall down to her body 'till stop in her chest "I always get amazed when I see this tattoo" he was talking about a cherry blossom tattoo that she has under her left breast "It's not a big deal" "for you" "I forget that people cannot see it every day like I can" "people?" "oh come on I have this since sixteen and you're not the first boy I slept with." "I know... Wait! 16?" she bit her bottom lip and looked at him knowing that he wasn't surprised with the fact that she made the tattoo with sixteen, but he (somehow) knew that her virginity had been lost not much more time after she made the tattoo. He just knew her, inexplicably. She smiled naughtily, her eyes screaming 'yes, I'm quite slutty when I want to', but he already knew it. Instead of speaking, he just lifted his eyebrows and nodded in acknowledgment "relax, I am not sleeping with anyone else" he rubbed his thumb on the top of her left breast "Me too" he said simple, hypnotized with her body. She smiled "you're lucky" "me? For what?" "See you like this every day" she laughed while rubbed the soap on his chest "do you think?" "Ye-yes" "well, thank you" he smiled softly, trying not to freak out with her hands rubbing his body and with the tiny distance between their naked bodies. A simple shower never had been so hot before. Plus the fact she didn't let him touch her "just… I'm just saying the truth" "you can see me naked every time you want too" "can I?" "yeah, just close your eyes and let the memories come" he giggled "where these ideas come from?" "Friends. Ross said it to Rachel" "Do you do that?" "Do I really have to answer?" she raised an eyebrow, he giggled "no. Sixteen" he said with amusement in his voice and she rolled her eyes smiling right after that "but thanks for the tip" "do you like another tattoo?" "let's see..." he took the chance to look at her body without feeling a jerk "…that rose on your groin and the 'bite me' on your butt" "really? You spend so much time on the bottom of my body..." he turned back so she could soap his back and then turned again to look her into her eyes "well, I'm usually busy" they both laughed and she put the soap back on the soapdish. They let the water wash their bodies in a comfortable silence then he pulled her closed by the waist to hug her and this time she did not escape from the kiss. She broke the kiss and took a deep breath turning into her heels to grab a towel "I will get one for you" then gave her back to him, leaving the shower, but not before he slaps her butt what made her look to his amused expression "Don't you know how to read? It's 'bite me' not 'slap me'" he laughed and she smiled "hey, Cal" "hum?" "Thanks for trying to keep your gaze into my eyes, you didn't need to, but was nice from you" he smiled "I mean, most part of the time" he blushed "well, I can't help myself" "It's okay, I can't too" then she looked for his body once more and disappeared into her bedroom soon coming back and dropping a towel on Calum's hand. "Want to go out for some breakfast while we talk?" "sure" "great".
*
They were in a gas station (I say petrol, but they are in LA, so... 🤷‍♀️ lmao) restaurant that made heavenly waffles with chicken, the perfect New Yorker combination. She was New Yorker. They ordered two "are you sure that it's a good combination?" "1000 percent" "ok, trust you" "good... so, want to talk about what?" "I..." he hesitated, she squeezed his hand while gave him a smooth gaze encouraging the handsome guy n front of her to continue "want to know if you will like to go out with me. I mean, on a proper date" she grinned and tangled their fingers "I will love to" he smiled and she leaned over the table to kiss him, but they were interrupted by a shy waitress "I'm so sorry" she smiled awkwardly to her, face centimeters from Calum's, being forced to sit on her place again "it's okay, I'm so starving that I could eat him" she joked and they laughed with her "I bet you could" he teased what made the waitress blush and quickly serves the meals, soon excusing herself "Calum!" "What?" He asked among his laugh "poor girl... just eat your 'chaffels'" "my what?" "'Chaffels' is half chicken half waffles" he laughed loudly "oh, you're unique" "yeah, now eat it!" "unique and bossy" she rolled her eyes and looked to his amused face "Okay, okay, I'm eating" he moaned in pleasure "holly shit! Jesus Christ! How I never ate that?" "I was wondering the same". After some minutes in Heaven he finished and let escape a harmless "I love you for this" her lips became a line and she blushed a little "don't say shit..." and put down her knife and forks "isn't shit" he looked into her eyes now with a serious expression across his face "oh, you don't love me" "really mean it. I love you" she smiled and bit her bottom lip "let's go". She stood up and grabbed his wrist after putting some money over the table and tugging Calum back to her place.
*
"Why we came back already?" He complained while they crossed her lawn. She asked him to close his eyes and in a moment she laid them on her bed, straddled his waist and kissed him. They went to Paradise.
After fucking deliciously, 2 times, he was with his back on her mattress staring at the ceiling one arm behind his head another one around her naked body half-covered by a duvet while she was resting against his chest, a finger rubbing his skin up and down, back and forth "Cal..." "hey" "I love you too" she mumbled and could feel his heart beating faster "do you?" "I think so..." he smiled and she smiled too "so, tell me about that date" "I actually don't know" "you don't know?!" now she was looking at his face trying to embarrass him "you really love to see me in pure despair, don't you?" She giggled and pressed her lips against his "More than I should" she laid again on his chest and after some minutes of silence he asked her "where'll you enjoy me to take you?" "I don't know and, honestly, I don't care" "what?" "I don't care about where. I will be with you and that is all that matters" he smiled and sat, putting her on his lap. He tucked a lock of hair, escaping from her messy bun, behind her ear and rubbed his thumb on her cheek, gently, and then pulled her for a passionate kiss "you are kinda the best thing that happened with me lately" she grinned "I don't know if you're being cute or lame" he laughed and kissed her once more, nothing mattered to him at that moment. "I love you" he whispered with foreheads glued "I love you" she whispered back "guess we love us" she smiled against his lips, it was more than enough for her. And he? He got a new tattoo: her name inked on his heart.
26 notes · View notes
wiypt-writes · 3 years
Text
Stark Spangled Forever
Tumblr media
Duo Shot: Stendhal Syndrome Part 1: Brat
Intro: It’s Rori’s fifth birthday party, and there’s someone there who Katie doesn’t really appreciate hanging round her man. And Steve doesn’t really appreciate Katie’s attitude either.
Uh Oh….
Warnings: Bad language.
Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark
A/N: This was a one shot. I got carried away and wrote 24 pages. So now you have a duo shot thanks to that photo sending me to a dirty place. No smut in this one…but it’s on its way in the next part! 
Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.
Stark Spangled Forever Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Tumblr media
 May 2029
“Katie…” Steve called up the stairs. He waited for a moment. There was no response. “Honey?”
Still nothing.
He bounded up the steps, taking them two at a time and headed over the landing and into their room. He paused in the doorway, smiling gently as he saw his wife curled upon the bed, Harry snuggled into her, his head tucked under her chin as they both slept. He wasn’t surprised they were both flat out. They’d had a rough time with the tot the previous night. He had woken up at about 2 am crying and Steve had gone into find both he and his bed full of vomit. After they’d cleaned him up he’d continued to be sick, grumpy and teary, and hadn’t settled even when they’d brought him into bed with them. Eventually Katie had given up and taken him downstairs. Steve had initially gotten up with them but Katie had sent him back to bed pointing out that one of them needed to be with it enough to look after the others the day after. It was also an unspoken fact that they both knew Harry wouldn’t settle for his dad when he was like this. Steve thought Jamie was a momma’s boy but that was nothing compared to their youngest.
He gently closed the door and headed back downstairs and into the den where Jamie was sat cross legged on the rug faffing with some Lego and Rori was perched watching The Wizard of Oz.
“Guys, what do you fancy for lunch?”
“Are you making it?” Jamie looked up at him. Steve snorted.
“Fraid so pal. Momma’s asleep with Harry.”
“Is Harry still sick?” Rori looked around, her eyes wide.
“He’s ok sweetie.” Steve assured her “He just has a tummy bug.”
“Or he ate your cooking.” Emmy said from behind Steve as she passed him heading into the kitchen.
“Enough cheek thank you.” Steve said, raising an eyebrow at her back. He heard her chuckle as she opened the fridge.
“Jamie its ok…” she called “There’s left over lasagne.”
“Yesss.” Jamie said, jumping up off the rug. “Mom’s lasagne is the best.”
“Daddy?” Rori spoke again, her round green eyes looking at Steve.
“Yes baby?”
“Will Harry be ok for my birthday party?”
Steve noticed her biting her lip, the same expression Katie wore when she was worried. With a soft chuckle he crossed the room and knelt down in front of her. “Of course he will, it’s not for another week yet.”
She considered his answer and nodded. Steve reached out and gently tucked her dark hair behind her ears. It was then he noticed her lip wobbling.
“Hey…” he said, frowning, as he stood up to sit besides her. She crawled onto his lap and tucked her face into his shirt “What’s wrong?” She sniffled slightly and pressed her face further into his chest. Steve gently rubbed her back and stayed still waiting for her to speak.
“Jemima at school…” she sniffled, and Steve took a deep breath. He knew where this was going. “Her brother got sick and he dieded.” “Ok…” he said gently, “Jemima’s brother was very poorly. Harry just has a tummy bug. I promise you Rori, he’s not going to die.” She sniffed again and looked up at him “Pinkie promise?”
He smiled and held up his hand, little finger extended “pinkie promise.” She mimicked him and intertwined her small finger with his before she reached up and wrapped her arms round his neck, nuzzling her head into the space against his cheek.
“Why is your face always scratchy?” she asked and Steve gave a laugh.
“Blame your Momma, she won’t let me shave.” he said and Rori pulled back, her little hands raking into his beard. He playfully snapped at her fingers with his teeth, a loud clicking noise sounding as he bit onto thin air and she giggled.
“You gonna come get some lunch?” he looked at her. She nodded and he stood up with her in his arms, carrying her through to the kitchen where Emmy was already halfway through making a salad to go with the leftovers which were heating in the microwave.
“Thanks Em.” Steve said, dropping Rori onto a chair by the table before he moved over to grab some plates.
“Think we should save mom some?”
“No it’s ok.” Steve shook his head “if she’s hungry when she wakes I’ll make her a sandwich.”
Emmy nodded. “Oh, I thought Peter and Brooke could come over later, if that’s ok? I mean, if Harry’s not still sick.” “They can come over anyway, it’s fine.” Steve said, “Harry will most likely be upstairs anyway.”
“We were just gonna hang out by the pool for the evening…” “Em.” Steve chuckled “It’s fine…” and then he paused and smirked slightly as he looked at her “You want the beer don’t you?”
She wrinkled her nose and nodded.
“There’s plenty in the bar…just don’t get that drunk one of you drowns.” he said after a pause. “Explaining that to Peter’s Aunt or Jennifer would be a bit awkward.”
“Thanks dad.” she smiled at him.
They ate their lunch, the 4 of them chatting away, Steve pleased to see Rori was settled now, her earlier upset forgotten. Once they were finished Emmy took Rori and Jamie out into the garden to play on the jungle gym whilst Steve cleared the dishes. Every so often he glanced out of the window to see the kids playing a soft smile on his face. He enjoyed days like this, weekends or during the holidays when they were all together. It was just a shame their brother was too poorly to join in. He called out of the open door to tell Emmy he was nipping upstairs before he repeated the journey he had taken a little over and hour ago, checking his watch.
Katie glanced up as he opened the door, her finger on her lips.
“Hey…” he whispered.
She smiled and gave a soft yawn “How long have I been asleep?”
“Not sure sweetheart.” he said, “I came up about an hour or so ago and you were flat out.”
She gave another yawn and Harry stirred gently, his hand rubbing at his eyes before he settled back down. Katie gently felt his head.
“He’s not as warm as he was.” she said as Steve gently perched on the bed, smoothing back his son’s dark blonde hair.
“Rori got really upset.” he said, smiling softly “She mentioned Jemima’s brother.”
Katie sighed and frowned “Yeah. It was hard trying to explain that when we heard the news. Is she ok?”
“She’s fine.” he assured her “Gave her a pinkie promise Harry only had a tummy bug so.”
“Daddy’s girl.” she smiled and Steve gave a gentle chuckle.
“Peter and Brooke are coming over later.” he said “Emmy wants to hang out in the pool house with a few beers.” Katie smirked “You’re definitely going soft in your old age.”
“Well Emmy is 21 now so I can’t stop her and as for Pete and Brooke, well, sooner they do it here than in a bar.” he shrugged. “You want some lunch?”
Katie shook her head “I’ll eat later.”
Harry stirred again, only this time he grumbled slightly and blinked, opening his eyes sleepily. He looked at his momma before he nuzzled into her closer, his hand winding into her hair as he started to grizzle slightly.
“Hey baby…” she said, kissing his head.
He mumbled something again, his noises not quite forming into words yet, still being half asleep, and then he turned his head to peek up at his dad.
“You ok Pal?”
Harry eyed him for a moment before he moved and held out his arms in Steve’s direction. Slightly surprised Steve moved to take him in an embrace as the little boy snuggled into his chest and Steve kissed his head. Katie smiled, the sight of Steve with his kids was something she would never get tired of. Being a father brought out all his best qualities, just like the serum had amplified them, having kids had too.  He was loving, patient, gentle yet strong, stern and happy to deal out the discipline when appropriate.
She sat up, pecking him on the cheek at the point where his beard met smooth skin. “You know you might not have the shield anymore but you’ll always be their superhero.”
********
Much to Rori’s relief (and everyone else in the Rogers household for that matter) Harry’s illness only lasted 24 hours and he was back to his cheeky, happy little self the next morning. Arrangements pressed ahead for the party, it wasn’t a huge gathering-namely Rori’s closest friends from school and family- which was to take place the weekend before her birthday.  As she shared her day of birth with her late uncle, Katie always found the day a little bittersweet but she tried to keep any of her sadness and nostalgia at bay for the sake of her little girl and focus on the celebration instead.
By 2pm in the afternoon their garden was packed with 7 other 5 year olds, a couple of parents and the usual additional suspects, namely Morgan and Pepper, Jennifer and Brooke along with Bucky and Sam. Rori had stipulated that she didn’t want any games or anything, just to play in the garden on a bouncy castle with some “Princess Punch” which was basically pink lemonade full of chopped up strawberries and raspberries, something her dad had made her one day and she insisted that no one else could make it the same. So, that’s what she had gotten.
“So who’s the blonde Katie’s throwing shade at?” Sam asked as Steve handed him a beer. Steve groaned. Rori’s best friend, a girl called Aurelia was obviously at the party. And so was her mother. A certain Dani-with-an-I, the real-estator who had shown them around the first house they had looked at in Brooklyn all those years ago But, as Steve knew only too well, his wife held a grudge better than anyone he had ever met in his life.
Ever.
Sam gave a loud snort of laughter as Steve explained about the whole incident when they’d been looking round the house and Dani flirting with him whilst Bucky took another Asgardian beer from the stack Steve had placed in a specific chiller in the garage and popped the top off effortlessly with his metal hand. The three men emerged out of the side door back onto the garden, taking up their spot by the side of the garden overseeing the proceedings whilst the women were perched on the decking which ran flush along the back of the house. Katie was milling around the garden somewhere, making sure everyone was ok.
“Bet that makes for interesting conversations when Aurelia comes for sleepovers…” Bucky mused.
“Katie’s not callous enough to have issues with a child simply because she doesn’t like her mother.” Steve shook his head, immediately defending his wife. “In fact she’s nothing but welcoming to her, she’s Rori’s friend after all. She just keeps any exchanges between her and Dani to a minimum.”
“Well, you best watch your back…” Sam said “Because it looks like she’s heading over.”
Steve sighed and spun round to face Dani as she approached him.
“Hi Steve…”
“Hey Dani.” he said “Everything ok.”
“I don’t want to cause a fuss but, well Jamie and Morgan are causing a bit of an issue.”
“Issue?” Steve frowned. At that point Rori came running over to him, tears flooding from her face. “Princess…” he crouched down. “What’s wrong?”
“Jamie and Morgan are throwing those little ball thingies that bang at everyone!” Rori said, stamping her feet. Steve glared up at Bucky.
“I told you not to give him those!” “I aint given him any for weeks!” Bucky held his hands up. “He’s clearly stashed them…I’m sorry Rori…”
“What have you done now?” Bucky turned to see Katie stood there, her eyebrows raised, sunglasses perched on her head as they acted like a headband, keeping her long hair off her face.
“Given Jamie contraband.” Sam said.
“Those damned firecrackers?”
Bucky shrugged.
“You’re an ass.” she said to him as she crouched down to look at Rori. “You ok sweetie?”
“He keeps throwing them at me!” she yelled.
“Ok…” Katie soothed her, and Steve took the opportunity to glance at his wife. She still knocked him off his feet after all these years. Her make-up was light, leaving those freckles he adored on show, and the pale yellow and blue maxi dress she was wearing complimented her amazing figure and curves to perfection, leaving her shoulders bare bar the thin spaghetti straps which crossed at the back. And it was low cut enough that Steve could see a fair bit of sideboob as well. Which he would never complain about. She turned to Steve, raised her eyebrow as his gaze lifted from her chest to her eyes. “Did you hear a word of that?”
“No.” he said honestly. She snorted.
“I just said that you’d go and speak to Jamie and Morgan.” she said, nodding to Rori.
“I’ll deal with your brother, I promise…” Steve confirmed “Go and play and don’t worry about it…”
He wiped her tears away with his hands, gave her a kiss and stood up
“Where are they?”
“By the side of the pool house.” Katie responded at the same time Dani said the same thing.
“We got it, thanks…” Katie looked at the woman. She nodded and sidled off, Steve ignored the look of utter glee that Sam and Bucky shared at the fact Katie was getting all “Starky Snarky” as Sam called it. Katie watched her leave before she turned back to Steve, ignoring the look he was giving her. “Spotted the little shits before.” she continued “They’re trying to hide behind the stack of sun-loungers”
He nodded, dropped a kiss to Katie’s lips and headed off to find the trouble makers. He took the long way, striding round the edge of the pool so they wouldn’t see him coming. He stood simply watching them for a moment. Jamie and Morgan were thick as thieves. With little over a year between them, they’d practically grown up as brother and sister, which Steve and Katie loved, but they were a recipe for trouble. With Morgan’s cleverness and Jamie’s penchant for mischief they made a right pair. Jamie said something to Morgan and she sniggered and they both stood up which was when Steve made his move. He gently grabbed Jamie’s collar and the back of Morgan’s top, pulling them back, ignoring their yells of protest as he bent over.
“If you two don’t stop right now, you’re gonna be in big trouble.” his voice was low and steely as he spoke and the pair of them stiffened slightly. He let go and stood up, hands on his hips.
“Dad, we were only-“
“Son…” Steve cut him off, holding his hand up in an instruction to stay quiet “Just don’t.” He held his palm out in front of him “Hand em over…”
With a sigh and a scowl Jamie emptied his pockets, Morgan following suit and they both passed Steve the small boxes of the little white firecrackers.
“I mean it you two. One more toe out of line…”
“Sorry Uncle Spangles.” Morgan bowed her head.
“It isn’t me you should be apologising to” he said, looking at the 10 year old. She was getting more and more like Tony with each day that passed. He felt a little pang for his brother-in-law as he looked into her brown eyes and took a deep breath, his voice softer when he spoke again “Go and say sorry to Rori, both of you.”
********
“What’s Morgan done?” Pepper asked as Katie headed up to the decking.
Katie snorted “Her and Jamie have been throwing firecrackers.”
Pepper groaned “I’ll have a word…”
“It’s ok… Steve’s sorting it.” Katie shrugged “No biggie, just being kids…”
“I don’t understand how she can be so like Tony when he’s not around.” Pepper said gently.
“Stark DNA.” Katie grinned, “it’s strong.”
Pepper snorted. “Yeah, it must be.”
The two women watched as Steve spoke to the kids, taking the boxes off them before dismissing them. He strode across the lawn, looked up at Katie and gave her a smile before he made his way into the garage to dispose of the offensive ‘weapons’.
“Where did they even get them from?” Pepper asked.
“Bucky” answered Jennifer and Katie the same time. Katie glanced back over the garden, everything seemed to be back to normal. Her eyes fell on Dani who was now stood with one of the other mums that Katie had been speaking to earlier.
“Who’s that?” Jennifer asked.
“Some tramp.” Katie shrugged.
“Her name is Dani.” Pepper snorted “With an I…”
“Was she the last Trashbag you had to take out one morning?” Katie asked. “She mentioned something about that last time I met her and she does look a familiar.”
Pepper snorted. “No…she never got there. Not for the lack of trying. But you’re right, she does look a little like Christine Everhart.”
“Of course…” Katie snorted, “Christine…”
Katie wandered through from the kitchen in her cami and short pyjama set, clutching a bowl of cereal, groaning at the raging headache she was sporting. She was visiting home for a week or so to attend the Apogee Award ceremony in Vegas, which was honouring her brother. Pity he hadn’t actually cared enough to attend himself, instead living it up in the Casino. Obediah had accepted the award for him and then she’d continued drinking with the rest of the party that had turned up…and continued the drinking on the private jet home.  As she shuffled into the living area, she stopped dead looking at the blonde woman, dressed in nothing but one of Tony’s shirts as she sloped around their living area. Another one of Tony’s bimbos that he picked up in Vegas and flown home with them. Said bimbo made her way over to the pad that led to the workshop and pressed a few buttons.
“Hey, Tony?”
“You are not authorized to access this area.” Jarvis said, making her scream and jump. Katie sniggered.
“Jesus.” the woman said.
“No, JARVIS…” Katie spoke loudly and the woman span around. “He runs the house.”
“You must be Katie…”
“And you must be Miss Saturday.” Katie shrugged, sitting on the sofa “Well, for this week anyway…”
“Christine…” she said. “We met last night…”
“Yeah I don’t bother learning names.” Katie shrugged. “They never last long enough for me to give a shit.”
At that point Pepper walked into the room holding up a clothes carrier.
“I’ve got your clothes here. They’ve been dry-cleaned and pressed, and there’s a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you’d like to go.” She said, smiling at the woman.
“You must be the famous Pepper Potts.”
“Indeed I am.” Pepper smiled.
“After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry-cleaning.” she commented sarcastically.
“Bitch.” Katie said loudly. Christine looked at her but Pepper simply remained still and smiled, her tone pleasant and even.
“I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash.”
At that Katie choked slightly on her cereal and looked up as the smug bint’s smirk slid off her face.
“Will that be all?” Pepper asked.
Christine took the hangar and sidled off.
“Taking out the trash…” Katie grinned “Pepper that was fucking genius!”
Pepper arched an eyebrow.
“Where is my dickhead brother?”
“Where do you think?” Pepper asked.
Katie hummed and put down her empty cereal bowl before she made her way through the door Christine had been trying to unlock and down to Tony’s workshop.
“JARVIS, lower that racket…” she muttered.
“Certainly Miss Stark…” 
The noise dimmed and Tony wheeled round “Please don’t turn down my music” “Good morning to you too.” Katie rolled her eyes “Last night’s conquest has left. Pepper just threw her out.”
“Speaking of which, you are supposed to be halfway around the world right now.” Pepper appeared but Tony wasn’t listening.
“How’d she take it?” He looked at Katie. 
“Like a champ.” she shrugged.
Tony grinned and then turned to Pepper “Why are you trying to hustle me out of here?”
“Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago.”
“That’s funny, I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there.” Tony quipped sarcastically.
“Tony, I need to speak to you about a couple things before I get you out of the door”
“Doesn’t it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?” Tony continue and then Pepper’s voice rose.
At that point Katie groaned and decided she needed to go to bed before she split for her own flight home and left them to it. 24 hours later she was back in London, getting the notice from Rhodey that Tony was missing…
Laughter dragged Katie back out of her memory and she wiped her eyes slightly, memories of her brother still hit her hard. She turned to catch the last of Pepper’s explanation about Dani’s ‘antics’ at a Stark Party once to which Jennifer, Emmy and Brooke were all laughing along with as Pepper glanced at Katie.
“What is she doing here anyway?”
“Well, her daughter happens to be Rori’s bestest friend in the whole world.” Katie said, repeating the words Rori used to describe Aurelia her “And of course when I asked a few parents on the invites to join, she jumped at the chance.”
There was a pause as they all continued to watch the woman as she tilted her head back and laughed at something that one of the other mom’s had said.
“Is her hair even real?” Emmy asked suddenly.
“Nope. And neither are her tits…” Jennifer mumbled. “Aint no way she’s had a kid and they’re still…” she grabbed her own breasts and hoisted them up, causing all the women to snigger into their drinks.
“Momma?” Katie spun to look at Rori who was grinning up at her mum.
“Hey sweetie” Katie smiled, crouching down “You ok now?”
Rori nodded “Please can I get a drink?”
“Course you can baby…” Katie smiled “Why don’t you go ask daddy to grab you some of the Princess Punch?”
She gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek before she skipped off down the lawn to where Steve was stood with Bucky and Sam. Katie watched as he immediately looked down when Rori tugged at his black jeans. With a huge, genuine smile he swept her up, her legs causing Steve’s sweater to ride up and at the flash of his toned stomach Katie bit her lip.
“Down girl..” Jennifer mumbled and Katie snorted.
“That obvious?”
“You’re not exactly subtle…” Pepper smirked “That’s the Stark in you.”
Behind her she heard Emmy groan before Brooke quipped “Em, not being funny, but your dad is hot.”
“Fuck off.” Emmy shot back as Brooke cackled “That’s disgusting.”
“His best friend ain’t bad either…” Jenifer mused, cocking her head to one side as Bucky reached up to gently ruffle Rori’s hair, and then tilting his head towards her as she reached to do the same to him, a huge smile spreading across his face.
“Eww.” Brooke groaned, and this time it was Emmy’s turn to laugh.
“Speaking of which, where’s Peter?” Katie turned to Emmy.
“He’s dropping May and Happy at the airport and coming down later…” she said, a faint pink tinge on her cheeks. Katie looked at Pepper, the pair of them smiling to one another. Emmy and Peter had been pretty on and off over the last 5 years but seemed to have been going pretty steady over the last 12 months.
“Which reminds me, can you tell Dad and Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee to behave?” Emmy looked at her mum “They’re always teasing Pete…” “That is a right of passage.” Pepper said wisely “Tony was a shit to Steve when he started dating Katie.” “Tony was a shit to Steve way before that.” Katie grinned “But I gotta admit, he was never that pleased about how he found out.” “Which was?” Jennifer looked her.
“He walked in and found us in the kitchen half dressed…” Katie shrugged “Was his own fault, he should have knocked instead of swanning into my apartment like he owned it.” “Yeah, I don’t…” Emmy started before she shook her head “Shut up!”
“Erm, where are you two off to?” Katie heard Pepper say and she looked up to see Morgan and Jamie half in, half out of the kitchen door.
“The den Auntie Pep.” Jamie answered. “Gonna go watch a film.”
“Least you can’t cause any trouble in there…yes, I heard.” Pepper said sternly “Another toe out of line Morgan H Stark and I’ll take you home.”
“Sorry Mom…” she said, and Pepper dismissed her.
Katie smiled again and her attention turned back to the party. She glanced over the garden and was just about to head down to mingle again, not wanting to leave the rest of the parents feeling awkward when a certain blonde haired tramp caught her attention. She watched her for a moment as she walked over to Steve and then stiffened slightly as she touched his arm, but then she stepped way over the line.
“Oh hell no bitch…” Katie’s eyes narrowed as she saw Dani kiss Steve’s cheek.
“Kick her ass mom…” Emmy mumbled.
“Hold my beer…” Katie said, before she paused “Actually, on second thoughts… I’ll take the beer with me…”
“$50 dollars says Trashbag is leaving here in a box…” Brooke quipped. Pepper, Jennifer and Emmy all sniggered.
********
After getting Rori a glass of punch and retrieving another 3 beers for him, Sam and Bucky, Steve headed back across the lawn, Rori still following him.
“Daddy…” she spoke again.
“Yeah?” he looked at her.
“What are tits?”
Steve choked on his beer and heard Sam’s guffawing laughter from the side of him, punctuated by Bucky’s snorts.
“Ermmm…” Steve wiped at his sweater where his beer had slopped down the front and racked his brains “They’re a type of bird…” The laugher and snorts grew even louder. Steve looked at Rori who was frowning before she shook her head “Why would Aurelia’s mommy have fake birds?”
At that Sam began to cough, and Steve looked at him. He was doubled over, slapping his knees. Bucky was wiping his eyes and gave Steve a thumbs up. “Fake birds, I can’t…”  Bucky’s hand fell to Sam’s back as the pair of them continued to laugh.
“I don’t know…” Steve looked at Rori. “Who said that anyway?”
“Jennifer.” she said, and Steve rolled his eyes and glanced over at his wife who was stood, looking out over the garden. “Well Jennifer is just being silly.” Steve looked back at Rori “Don’t worry about it.”
Rori accepted his answer and ran off.
“You can stop laughing now.” he turned to his friends.
“Man, I love your kids.” Bucky said as Sam straightened up, wiping his eyes.
“Yeah well right now they’re behaving better than their mother.” Steve frowned.
“I dare you to say that to her face.” Bucky smirked “And whilst you’re at it, you can tell Jennifer you think she’s silly…”
Steve shook his head “I’m quite attached to my balls thanks, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Good luck with that…” Sam said, “Blonde haired real estator at 12 o’clock.”
Steve let out a silent groan, he really didn’t need this.
“Steve…” he felt an hand on his arm.
“Yeah?” he turned to face Dani, polite as always.
“I’m sorry about before,I didn’t want to get the kids into trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Steve shrugged “Jamie and Morgan are a handful together.”
Dani laughed, and then stood on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. Steve hadn’t seen that coming. He stepped away slightly and gave her a smile as she looked at him.
“Well, Aurelia was really upset so thank you for sorting it out…”
“Wife…6 o’clock…” Bucky mumbled. But he needn’t have bothered, Steve knew his wife was behind him even before she slipped her arms round his waist, the hand that wasn’t clutching the beer bottle gently slipping under his black sweater, rubbing his stomach softly. He smiled to himself, knowing full well she was here to make a point, and gently placed his large hand over hers.
“Hey beautiful.” he said softly and Katie felt that fire in her belly light even more at his soft words.
“Hey…” she mumbled, pressing her face into his back, gently kissing between his shoulder blades through his sweater before she moved and slid into the space under his arm, placing herself between him and Dani. Steve rolled his eyes at his wife’s passive aggressive display of possessiveness and glanced at Sam who was grinning ear to ear, watching the exchange.
“You know, Mrs Rogers…” Dani smiled at Katie, ”I was just wondering if we were past the formalities of using our surnames now seeing as our daughters are inseparable? ”
She started to laugh and Katie continued to smile before she replied “Nope, I’m good with Mrs Rogers thanks.
Sam started to cough, which was clearly to cover up a laugh. Steve looked at him to see him smirking ear to ear.
“How’s your husband?” Katie looked Dani. “I don’t see him…”
“We’re not together anymore.” Dani said, her smile faltering slightly
“Oh, sorry to her that.” Katie replied, although her tone said otherwise “Guess he wasn’t a fan of you touching what doesn’t belong to you either.”
Dani’s face slipped, but luckily for her one of the other mom’s called her name and she excused herself. Katie watched her go before she felt Steve move his arm from her shoulders.
“That was mean.” he looked at Katie, his brow furrowed.
“I don’t like people touching my stuff…” Katie shrugged.
“You’re a fucking brat.” Steve said sternly, his face displaying no humour. Katie was completely unabashed by his tone and shrugged again
“I warned her last time I’d snap her hand off. She got off lightly.”
With that she turned and walked back towards Pepper and Jennifer. Steve watched her go, his face flushed with anger at her childish display.
“Damned…” Bucky whistled out. “I know you said she could be vicious, Steve, but wow…”
“I think that’s called marking your territory.” Sam quipped as Steve shook his head, the nerve in his jaw twitching.
“It’s called being rude.” He said, before he drained his beer and tossed the empty into one of the recycling tubs by the table “Scuse me fellas, I need to go have a word with my wife…” Bucky and Sam watched as he strode across the lawn, hand pushing his hair back off his face. He reached Katie, acknowledge the women before he gently wrapped his hand around her arm and bent to speak into her ear. She looked at him, frowned, and then allowed him to lead her inside.
“So now they’re gonna have a row and then angry sex, right?” Bucky looked at Sam. Sam nodded.
“Totally…shall we join the ladies?”
“Good idea.” Bucky agreed.
*******
“Uh oh Dad’s approaching…” Emmy said to her mum.
“Is he pissed?” Katie asked, grimacing slightly. As soon as he’d chastised her before she knew he wouldn’t leave it there and she was going to get a lecture about her attitude.
“He’s wearing his Captain’s face…” Emmy wrinkled her nose.
“Shit…”
“A word, inside now…” Steve’s voice was quiet, calm and level as he gently gripped Katie’s arm, but she recognised the icy tone it carried. Frowning slightly, she let him take her hand as he led her inside and through to the lounge. Steve shut the door behind him and Katie watched him, cocking her head to the side.
“Was there any need for that?” he said looking at her.
“For what?”
“You know damned well what.” he said, his voice still low as he raised an eyebrow “What you said to Dani, it was rude.”
“Whatever.” Katie rolled her eyes.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me…”
“Don’t speak to me like I’m one of the kids…” she shot back, her voice slightly louder.
“Well stop acting like one of them.” Steve’s hands dropped to his hips. “The dig about her husband was awful, you do realise he cheated on her right?”
Katie’s face slipped a little “No, I didn’t…but, hang on, how do you know that?”
“She told me, the other week when I dropped Aurelia off home.”
“Oh so you’re like friends now, she confiding in you?”  Katie’s tone was steely.
“No, she just mentioned that she was grateful for us having Aurelia because she’d had an appointment with the solicitor. So maybe, just maybe you should think about apologising.”
“Piss off…” Katie laughed in disbelief. “She kissed you on the cheek…”
“And?” Steve frowned “You forget that plenty of guys do that to you…”
“My or our friends, yeah. She is NOT my friend Steve…”
“Do you seriously feel that threatened by her you have to be so downright nasty?”
“I’m not threatened…look, like I said before, I told her last time she touched my stuff again and I’d snap her wrist. She got off lightly.”
Steve shook his head at his wife, he loved the bones of this woman but sometimes her behaviour drove him up the wall. She could be so petty and obtuse it was ridiculous.
Rogers by name, Stark by nature.
There was a tense silence which Katie broke.
“Are we arguing still?”
Steve sighed “I’m not arguing with you, I’m just pointing out I think you were out of line. If you don’t think you were then that’s your prerogative.” Katie hummed, before she grinned and looked at him “Wanna go fuck in the Camero like last time?”
Steve shook his head, she was unbelievable.
“No.” he said simply, turning to open the door. But Katie wasn’t giving up that easily.
“Shame, because I’m not wearing any panties.”
Ok so that got Steve’s attention. He let out an inward groan as frankly, that sex they’d had in the garage after the previous Dani incident had been hot as fuck but no, he wasn’t giving in here. What was it she always told the kids? “Actions have consequences”
Damned right they do sweetheart.
He turned back to face her, his back pressing to the door as he glanced down at his hands, the sleeves on his sweater were rolled up slightly exposing his forearms. He raised his gaze to meet that of his wife’s and damned, he nearly caved, because she really did turn him on more than she would ever know. But right now, he wasn’t giving her what she wanted.
He sighed and repeated his earlier statement to her “Such a fucking brat.” before he turned and walked out of the room.
Katie remained where she was, stunned. For the first time ever, in their 16 years of being together she had failed to seduce her man.
Part 2
41 notes · View notes
salenakingston · 3 years
Text
Mystery March Day 24 - Fear
(How about another gift fic? This one is for @clownsuu‘s Yandere!Lewis. What an interesting portrayal of Lewis and the dynamic between him and Arthur, and also perfect for this prompt. I saw that there were no other published works for this little au spin, so I hope you like it! <3)
The fall should have killed him. Whether it had been a surprise or not, Lewis’ motivations were made clear with one small act. Hunt down the man that ruined his life, recreate the location of his demise, and then drop him in the same manner he perished in. But something was wrong. Arthur’s reaction had been unexpected… Shock. How?
And he was still falling. A heart, dark and shattered, the illusion being brushed away. The ringing of the shotgun bringing it all to an end… at least for this one moment. The danger hadn’t retreated just because the spires were gone. There was still the plant woman with a sword in the shape of giant sheers, and even when that was taken care of, their once friend had turned against them.
If there was one thing this made the ghost realize it was that there was more to the story of his death. Well, maybe there were two things. Between the possession, the danger brought about by the ghost’s own hands, and prior experience, it was that Arthur was a magnet for danger. Well, to be fair, all of them were, but the blonde more than any of them. The rest of them had a means of protecting themselves.
Fire for the ghost, ice for the bluenette, and a secret form for the ‘dog.’ What did Arthur have? He had intelligence, creating rather than fighting. Even in a fight, he ran more than throwing a punch.
Perhaps it was that conclusion that caused Lewis to follow his former best friend. He had come back to the group, all of them working to adjust to one another. Tension ran between them, especially between the two men. This wasn’t unexpected considering the circumstances around their situations. The ghost held his attention on the metal arm, having been one of the other changes to the blonde’s life. The greatest thing taken away from his once friend, and only fueled the new goal to make sure nothing else happened to him.
Anytime there was a choice to split up, Lewis insisted on going with Arthur. It was one of the most unpredictable decisions of their new dynamic. This new desire to make sure the blonde remained safe was a bit strange, but no one saw a reason to argue against it. If anything, Vivi and Mystery saw this as a good opportunity for Lewis and Arthur to rebond. Even the blonde seemed on board with this plan the more times he was placed in the ghost’s care.
Everything was going fine except for one problem.
The blonde was still not entirely safe.
He could use his powers to protect him, but he couldn’t always account for stray targets moving for him, or what the outcome would be if his partner decides to run rather than stick around for his protection. More over was the danger he couldn’t protect the man from when they were on their downtime. There was no denying that Arthur had his problems, ones Lewis got to see first hand; and even though they were getting better, there were still moments when they would creep up.
What was he meant to do about these? Kind words of encouragement didn’t seem to do much.
Arthur had to admit that things were starting to go from alright to a little uncomfortable. There was quite the difference from endearing worry to hovering over him. Even when asking for a little more space, he could swear the feeling of someone watching him was always lingering. It was hard to find a reason as to why this was happening. Why would Lewis change so much? Sure, he was glad the two of them reconciled on past events, but then why was the ghost continuing to hang so close?
The best he could do for now was ignore it.
Lewis was hatching other plans.
Truthfully, he wasn’t entirely sure what brought on this new drive to make sure his blonde friend was safe. Perhaps out of guilt over nearly bringing death over a misunderstanding? Perhaps now seeing just how much risk this one friend was putting himself in? The way this friend was destroying himself when it seemed like no one was looking? In life, he would have done anything to make sure his best friend was taken care of.
Now that relations were repairing, why should he stop that promise?
The ghost found himself in the blonde’s room one night, watching the way he tossed and turned. It hurt watching the way his face scrunched up, sometimes having tears fall from his eyes. Large hands and arms wrapped around the man’s trembling frame. Arthur’s body seemed to turn towards his chest, making the ghost hold him closer. This had to stop.
He floated through the door, leaving the blonde’s home, and made his way towards a familiar mansion.
When he woke the next morning, it wasn’t hard to tell something was wrong. He looked around, confused as to why there was so much purple in his room. The more he woke up, the more a certain fact clicked in his head. This wasn’t his room. His work table was gone, and this room was far too clean to be his own. Even so, he knew where he was.
And this was confirmed when the ghost walked through the door, “Oh, you’re awake.”
“Lew? What happened? Why am I here in the mansion?”
“I brought you here.”
“Well yeah… I got that, but why?”
There was a long pause. That was something that made the blonde uneasy. Why did something about this feel so wrong about this? Lewis finally spoke again, “You were having a nightmare. I thought you might be better here. You did seem to calm down some when I did.”
“Oh… thanks Lew.”
“I’m making some breakfast if you’d like it.”
“Yeah… that sounds nice…”
The ghost disappeared, leaving the mechanic all on his own. He could see a set of his usual clothes resting on the dresser. Did Lewis think of everything? The only missing aspect in this room were many pieces of metal and papers with detailed blueprints across the floor. He pushed himself out of bed, changed, and made his way to where he remembered the kitchen being. Sure enough, there was the suit-wearing ghost, plating up breakfast. He managed a smile, “Hey Lew. I’ll have to go to work after this. Did you happen to bring the van with you?”
“Oh, no I didn’t. I guess I could get you to Kingsmen.” Two plates were set down, a chair pulled out for the blonde friend.
Arthur took a seat, looking at the amount on the plate in front of him. It was far more than he usually ate. Maybe he should have expected this. After all, it was the Pepper cooking. This was normal. He reached for his fork, starting, “Yeah? I would appreciate that.”
Lewis didn’t like how some of his food was going to waste. It got to one point where the blonde was just pushing it around. That was something he would have to work on. Guess he couldn’t exactly force the man to eat. The noise was starting to grate on both of them, a good sign that it was time to go. He held his end of the promise, taking his friend to his workplace, though turned invisible rather than leaving.
He couldn’t leave. He had to make sure everything was going to be alright.
As the day went on, the more antsy the ghost was becoming. It was true his friend slept a little better, but that didn’t fully change his fatigued state. There were still circles under his eyes, lack of sleep and nightmares were the direct cause. It didn’t help that since the cave, he’d grown a tendency to stay up far later than normal working on one of his many projects. Sometimes it wasn’t even the same one. Just another problem to fix for his safety.
Speaking of his safety, or rather it was the lack of this which was causing the unwanted visitor to become increasingly worried. Accidental injury was not uncommon here, and just because it happened to the metal arm rather than his flesh one didn’t change the fact that it was dangerous. Imagine what would be done if it was still flesh…
No, he didn’t like that image, and the more it sank in, the more he hated it. This had to be fixed too.
By the end of the day, Arthur had begun to walk home, seeing as his ride was still not here. His uncle could probably give him one, but why bother him with that? His eyes popped open when he felt himself being lifted off the ground, a pang of fear racing through him, “Whaaa?”
“It’s just me Artie.”
“Oh Lew. Are you taking me home?”
“Yeah.” Sort of.
He was flying in the direction of the mansion. That wasn’t home. The blonde dared a small pull on the sleeve of the suit, “Umm.. Lew, my home is the other way.” But Lewis ignored him. Ignored him.It was so off putting, one that made worry strike. He tried again, “Lew?” Once again ignored.
Lewis knew what he had to do. He had to keep Arthur safe. He wasn’t safe at Kingsmen. When they returned to the mansion, the ghost promptly took his friend to his room, and sat him down on the bed. He turned around, floating towards the door, “It’s been a long day. You should try and get some rest. I’ll bring you something to eat.”
“Lew!”
The door shut, a distinct click following it. Lewis actually locked him in.
The blonde began to tremble. What was happening to his best friend? Did something happen at one of their jobs that changed him like this? Maybe Vivi would know something that could lift whatever was causing the ghost to behave so strangely. Ok, then all he had to do was make it to tomorrow. He’d be off from work anyways for their usual going out days.
Sure enough, Lewis came back, but whatever appetite that might have been there was gone. His head turned away, “I think I may just go to bed, Lew. I’m not really hungry.” There it was again, this strange habit of not eating anything. Magenta on black narrowed pushing the plate towards his friend. He had to eat something, “Eat Arthur.”
There was that fear coming back for the blonde. The tone of voice… so commanding. It was as if he put a hidden threat behind those words. Swallowing silently, he took the plate, working to push past the sick feeling in his stomach so that he could eat, even if that meant releasing it all once the ghost left. Which he wasn’t doing. He was watching him eat.
When the plate was nearly empty, he offered it back to his friend, “I really can’t eat anymore Lew, I’m sorry.”
Lewis looked it over, apparently satisfied enough to give a nod, “Alright. Get some sleep then Arthur.”
Lewis might have left right after that, but the feeling of being watched continued to linger through the room for the entire night.
The next morning was not that surprising, almost a repeat of the last morning and night in the mansion. He was expected to eat, no matter how much he didn’t want to, or how sick it seemed to make him. When prompting the idea to go into town, at least the ghost seemed to be alright with the idea… so long as he could come with. Actually, that might not be a bad idea. He’d get the chance to see Vivi and Mystery again. Maybe it would be something all of them needed.
Lewis was a little on edge. He’d changed his form back into his old look, sunglasses to cover his eyes so no one would suspect his true condition. Anyone around them could be a danger. He kept his watch. It wasn’t until Tomb Tome came into view that worry spiked again. He shouldn’t be. He knew who would be here. Vivi and Mystery. His love, their mascot.
One of them was a liar. The one that ripped Arthur’s arm off in the first place.
Ok, so he had to keep Arthur away from Mystery, but Vivi couldn’t possibly be unsafe. But then what about all of the blonde’s habits? Why didn’t she help him? Surely they wouldn’t have spiraled as much as they had at the start of this whole mess. She should have done more.
If she wasn’t much help then, then what help would she be now/ She couldn’t keep Arthur safe. Neither one of them could.
Arthur appeared to be picking up the pace, especially when it looked like the bluenette was about to make her way out the door. Without much thought, the ghost took a hold of the metal wrist, knowing he’d be able to hold it harder than his real one, dragging his friend away. This was a mistake. They had to go back to the mansion, even if that meant dragging the blonde all the way back like this.
When they did finally return, Arthur tugged harder on the metallic limb, finally getting it free. Amber eyes narrowed to his friend, “What the hell Lewis? Why did we leave?! They were right there!!” Once again, the ghost didn’t say anything. Why should he? Why didn’t Arthur understand everything was being done for his safety. He was the only one that could keep him safe. Instead of giving an answer, he took hold of the wrist again, pulling his friend back towards his room. He gently sat him down, feeling the trembling his friend was producing. It would be alright. He’d stop soon and see his best friend was just trying to help him.
All it took was time.
And nothing seemed to get better. If anything, it got worse.
If Arthur feared the Lewis that was gunning him down in an effort to end his life, then this one was far more terrifying. One small step out of line and there was no telling what the ghost would do.
When he tried to escape out the window, Lewis at first boarded it up, but then made it disappear completely upon other multiple attempts. The ghost had been kind enough to transfer over the blonde’s workspace, tools, and materials, if only to give him something to do while in his room. With said tools, Arthur had tried picking the lock on the door, but with no success. Whenever he was allowed out of his room, Lewis stuck to him like glue.
He’d tried to run before, having gotten a better idea of the mansion’s layout, but the front doors were always locked, and before he could reach a window, a chill was sent down his spine, feeling another soul dancing with his’ inside his body. Possession. Of anyone present to learn the truth of the cave, he would think the ghost would understand the most what fear came with this feeling. His body moving on its own. If he could shriek, he would.
Every time the ghost resorted to such a measure, it left the blonde trembling beyond reason, digging up memories he wished would be buried forever.
Meals and sleep were not any better. Lewis was constantly cooking for him, and when he wasn’t feeling hungry, or couldn’t eat everything on his plate, he was forced to finish. Sometimes it would be through possession, but other times, more drastic measures were taken. When it came to sleep, well there wasn’t any. Even the nightmares were preferable than having the ghost watching him all night. The only times he did seem to be sleeping were when he had no other choice than to pass out from sheer exhaustion. Every time he woke up, he would find himself tucked in bed, the ghost never too far away.
How long has this been going on now? Months? To be honest, the blonde was losing track, and the fear growing inside of him wasn’t ever going down. He had to confront Lewis about this or nothing was going to change.
Sure enough, the moment he was allowed out of his room, the ghost was there. Fear was holding him back from speaking. No, he had to do this.
“Lewis.”
“Yeah Artie?” That nickname.
“Lewis, this has to stop.”
Both of them stood still, the ghost falling silent. His arms crossed. This wasn’t going to stop. He was the only one able to keep the blonde safe. No one else. Anyone he previously might have trusted became nothing more than another resident of Tempo. There was no connection to them, not even the once love of his life.
“Lewis!” Oh, he must have gotten lost in thought.
“Lewis listen to me!” He turned his back on his friend.
“What are you planning to do with me?! Keep me locked up til I die?! What about Vivi?! Or Lance?!” Silence.
“Are you even listening to me?!”
Oh, he was listening alright. When the ghost turned back around, fear was coursing through the blonde’s body. He’d done what he needed to do, and now it was Lewis’ turn to correct this. He ran.
The ghost was never far behind, and once caught up, a very familiar chill ran over the fear. Lewis had possessed him again. Rather than walking him back to his room, or somewhere else in the mansion, his body stood perfectly still. Arthur’s soul was trembling, but soon felt an embrace. A terrified wail echoed around him, a small ‘shhhh’ following it. As if that was supposed to calm him down. A voice was heard, but it didn’t put him at any ease.
“Don’t worry Artie. You’re safe with me.”
21 notes · View notes
tastebyj · 3 years
Text
1010. 2am
hmmm something wrong with the tumblr again so I need to type again :(
This week has been super fast, went to 梨山 for 3 days really gave me some time to relax even though I slept 4-5 hrs per day only, I still in good spirits. I think the fresh air helps a lot.
Recap of my trips:
1. We actually spent time on the tea farm, the tea farm is in the highest point in 梨山, the owner is Aboriginal and also 大幅's friends. It's actually a bit weird for me to join this trip because 大幅 is actually one of our suppliers, in my position is actually not good for me to get too close to any of the suppliers. But since he is Esan's good friend so I don't mind.
The fruit box project doesn't go very well, I think Amber had a hard time dealing with the product's stuff but meanwhile, her pride will somehow decrease people's willingness to give advice. I notice that Amber wasn't very good at working with someone not smart enough. I think the same thing happened in our small team as well. But anyway Amber and I decided to cooperate on this project together, I will focus on the packaging and she will focus. on the contents.
2. Something happened was 大福 heard that we didn't want to put the teabag in the box, and he was upset that we just make this decision (Amber just said Richie doesn't want it). But there actually has more reason behind it why we can't put the tea in the box so I explain it to him.
3. Happy that I was able to talk with Chris during the trip. I hope our trip will come soon, and I ate a lot of apples during the trip.
-
Feel sorry that I watched the show myself, hope bb feel ok now. But I need to say I was super surprised that he asked if I want to have a movie night because that's what I want to ask this morning...hahaha
-
Plan to play badminton, work and run tomorrow before our movie night. love you bb and lots lots kisses. I am very happy to know you might visit Taiwan next year. I was thinking about you hugging me from behind yesterday when I slept.
loves,
Jean
Tumblr media
1 note · View note
nikki-fucking-sixx · 4 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Together Without You: Chapter Five
You sigh as you stare at yourself in the mirror. The girl staring back at you resembles your facial features, but the body has changed. You turn so you’re facing it head-on so that your bump doesn’t seem visible at all. You look like the old you. You turn to the right and see the bump. It is slight, you have only been pregnant for a short time but it is definitely there. You put your hands on it, hoping maybe you’ll feel something, any kind of reference to the fact that there is a life inside of you. You wait. You know it is illogical as the baby is a sack of cells right now, but you want something to happen. As you thought, nothing happened. 
You turn away from the mirror and throw on a black shirt. It used to fit you perfectly, but now there was a tightness around the stomach that looked like you ate a bit too much at breakfast. Now it was time for the true test, the pants. You stare at the pair of jeans on your bed, ready to play this cruel game. You take them in your hands and examine them, like you had never seen such material before. You put one foot in the first leg and the second in the other before pulling up the jeans. They slid on like normal. You felt yourself smile. You face the mirror again to see that you still have not zippered and buttoned them. 
Shit.
You take a deep breath in and pull in your stomach. The button clasps. You then quickly pull up the zipper. You managed to get dressed for work. It only took you twenty minutes rather than the two minutes it usually took you. You grab your keys as you walk out of your apartment and make your way to the car. As you get in, you look at yourself in the rearview mirror to see a makeup-free face. You scowl and turn away. Today was the day you were supposed to have your doctors appointment with Nikki and you wanted to at least look presentable. Now you just looked like some fat zombie. Great. You grab your jean jacket from the back and throw it on, hoping it will hide some of the exposed bump.
You make it to work a few minutes late, something rare for you. Then again, it is a Saturday at 8:00 am, so it should be pretty empty. You walk in to see Gus, the line cook, and Ron, the dishwasher, looking absentmindedly at the small TV in the corner playing some news show. You smile at Gus before grabbing your apron and walking into the dining room. There were two parties there and an empty parking lot, perfect. 
“Hey, where have you been?” You turn around to see the only other waitress working this shift, Lisa. 
“I’m so sorry I’m late, my alarm didn’t go off.” That’s a lie.
“Ok,” She didn’t care, “It’s been empty so far,” And at that she wanders over to the bar. You grab your apron from the host stand before following her. She grabs the whiskey from the bar and pops it open before pouring herself a glass.
“Starting early today?” You joke, cracking a smile.
“I’m here, I have to if I want to get through this shift.” She pours a large glass and takes a big swig. “Do you want a sip?” 
You immediately shake your head, “No, I don’t like whiskey,” That was also a lie.
“Whatever,” And at that, she has her lips back on the glass. “So, I heard some gossip the other day.” 
“What gossip?”
“That you slept with a rockstar,” You feel your bones freeze under your skin.
“Excuse me?” You wanted to keep some composure.
“Gus told me,” She takes another sip, “You and Nikki fucking Sixx were yelling at each other about some shit. He said it sounded intense.” 
“That doesn’t mean we slept together.” 
“Then why would you be yelling at each other?” She stares you down.
“There are plenty of reasons why we would be yelling at each other,” You refute, “He’s an asshole anyway.” 
“Well, it just sounds-” And at that you saw Gus stick his head out the door.
“(Y/N), could I see you in the back?” You don’t mean to but you speed into the kitchen. Gus is back behind the grill, hiding, as he can see the anger in your eyes.
“What the fuck Gus!” You storm over to him.
“What?” He plays dumb.
“Why’d you tell Lisa about Nikki?” You feel your voice rising, “I told you that in confidence.”
He looks flustered, “She was badgering me about it. She saw him and the band walk in and heard you two screaming at each other and she knows we’re friends so-”
“What did you tell her!” You shout. 
“Nothing.” He says meekly, “Believe me, I said nothing.”
“You know what,” You lower your voice, “It’s fine, if you didn’ give her any details, we’re fine.” At that, you turn to what is cooking on the stove. It was probably one of the least inspired looking eggs you have ever seen. Gus could tell what you were thinking.
“They said they wanted an omelet if you want to talk to the reigns.” He smiles at you and you smile back. This was his apology and you gladly accepted. He knew that cooking brought you joy. Being able to eat something that you made that was also delicious was a great feeling. You brought the eggs out to the table and watched from afar as the older woman looked pleased with her meal. You felt much better, maybe even ready for the doctor’s appointment. 
Before long, it was 3:00 and your shift was done. Your appointment was at 3:30 and at the doctor’s office down the street. You get there at 3:15 and sit in the waiting room, watching all the other women in the room stare at you. Well, not just the women, but the women and their husbands. Every woman came accompanied by a man with a ring on his finger. And here you were, an unwed mother without her rockstar one-night stand. You looked at your watch, 3:20, he still had time. The next ten minutes went by quickly and still no Nikki. You feel your legs shaking as the nurse comes in and calls out your name. You get up and follow her to the examination room. You lay down on the cot and the nurse asks you routine questions, name, birthday etc. You answer her questions lazily, staring at the clock. 3:37, where the fuck was he? The nurse noticed your anticipation and gave you a warm smile.
“Expecting someone?” You give her a light smile.
“Yeah,” She gets up and grabs her clipboard. 
“You know how men are, they wait until the last minute to leave and expect the show to wait for them,” She pushes a strand of grey hair behind her ear, “He’ll be here soon honey, don’t worry.” Her words soothed you and she left. Now it was just you, wondering when he would get there. When you hear the door open five minutes later, you expect to see the big-haired rocker walkthrough but instead, it was just your doctor. 
“Nice to see you Mrs. (Y/L/N)-”
“It’s actually just Ms.” You can’t help but interrupt.
“Sorry, Ms. (Y/L/N). Are you here alone?” You give a tight-lipped smile, about to answer when you see Nikki finally run into the room. 
“No, she’s here with me.” He looks flustered, his face losing the sense of mystery that it tends to have. You maintain your composure although it is taking every muscle in your body not to punch him.
“Ok, and what’s your name, sir?”
“Nikki,” The doctor looks down at his clipboard and writes it down. 
“And you’re the presumed father?” You did not like his wording.
“Yes.” He steps over to your side. You can’t even look at him. 
“Well, you’re just in time Nikki because we’re going to check up on your baby.” You felt your nerves begin to set in again. This was your first time seeing your child. The child you don’t really want but the child you will have. You feel Nikki staring at you but you don’t look at him. You hear the doctor saying medical jargon as he spreads some goo on your abdomen. Everything he says goes over your head. All you can think about was how late Nikki was. What the fuck was he even doing? Is this going to be a trend? Will he miss the baby’s birth? Your mind was racing, thinking of every terrible way Nikki could wrong you when suddenly you heard a beat. It was strong and steady and it rang throughout the room. You look up, confused.
“What is that?”
“Your baby’s heartbeat.” And in that moment, everything faded away. It was your baby. And they had a heartbeat. No sound had ever sounded so beautiful before. You finally look at Nikki and he is staring at you. You cannot help but stare back up at him. You didn’t look at him with anger, but rather with something you couldn’t quite distinguish. You then feel his fingertips touch the palm of your hand. You don’t pull away but instead let his fingers travel to where yours are and let him entwine them together. It was so simple but it was perfect. In that moment it was just the three of you. You felt peace. This did not last too long as the doctor lets out a cough. You look over at him.
“Would you like to see the sonogram?” You nod and at that, the screen to the right of you turns on to reveal a black mass. It really did not look like anything to you until the image focused on a small pea. Or a bean. Or maybe it was a dust bunny. Regardless, there they were. “The baby appears to be healthy. You appear to be eight weeks along so still in your first trimester.”
“Is it a boy or a girl?” Nikki uncharacteristically blurts out. 
“It’s too soon to tell. That’s for the 16-week appointment.” Nikki nods, you catch something on his face, disappointment maybe. You all discuss the future appointment before the doctor leaves and it is just you and Nikki. As the door closes, you remember what he did.
“Where the hell were you?” 
“Rehearsal ran longer than I thought it would and-” 
“That’s not an excuse.” You say curtly, and he knows you’re right.
“I know.” And at that, the conversation was over. Something about him feels different today and you could not help but stare. When he looked back at you, you looked away. 
“You could come to a rehearsal at some point if you want to hear what’s going on.” You pause. Maybe it was good to see what your baby daddy was doing.
“Ok.” He smirks.
“We’re meeting tomorrow around 4:00, I’ll pick you up.”
“I can’t wait.” You let it slip out before you can block the words. You flush and begin to readjust yourself. 
“I won’t be late this time,” You look up, “I promise.”
82 notes · View notes
bellasharifuddin · 3 years
Text
The Day I Became a Mother
It’s been a while since I last post anything here, typing feels awkward as well. But this has always been a thing that I wanted to do since the day I’ve given birth, to document and blog about my pregnancy and my birth journey, so in 4-5 years to come when my memories fade, I can always come back to reminisce every detail that I keep here, like a memory capsule. 
The Day I Found Out I Was Pregnant. 
You know, when people say that when you have a strong intuition about something, trust your gut feeling, because it’s often true. Mirin and I have always talked about having kids, me wanting a baby so much within months after we got married, however, Mirin having second thoughts about it. We were both married for less than a year, sleeping on a toto without a mattress or a bed, living in the deep slum of Wangsa Maju area where the rats are larger than the cats. Hahaha. Naturally, given our circumstances, he’d want to take things slow. 
Fast forward to a couple of months, we went out for some steaks and karaoke on a weekend night. I told mirin to stop by Watsons, for me to buy a pregnancy test kit. Mirin didn’t question much, because occasionally I would randomly buy one, just for fun. But this time, I didnt just get one. I ended up buying three. Why? Because somehow, I had a strong feeling this time. I just felt... weird. It was a feeling that I can’t put it into words. 
We came home at midnight, I went to the bathroom too “pee on the stick”. Then I saw the first line... a few seconds later comes the second one. Oh my god. Okay. I knew Mirin was standing outside the toilet door, waiting. Eventually, I had to break the news to him. When I showed to Mirin, we both ended up hugging and crying. Was I happy? Was I in shock? Was I sad? Yes, a little bit of everything. Its funny that all you’ve wanted was a baby, then when it actually happens, suddenly you’re freaked out. Happy that its a blessing. Sad that it hits you without a warning. 
Tumblr media
                                                      Pregnant!
When the morning sickness finally kicked in, I knew we couldn’t live in the current house. Its not the best place to raise a child. And the next-door neighbor was having major renovation that was super loud and noisy. After sleepless nights and searching for a new place, we eventually moved out. Bought our first bed, bought our first dining table, bought our first gas stove. A many of firsts. Soon we finally bought a baby cot from Ikea. We bought it too early. Although it was too early to put it up, but Mirin assembled it anyways. I could tell that he was excited. It was such a fun and exciting moment, for the both of us.
But those were the fun part. Like most pregnancies, the not so fun part about being pregnant was me being diagnosed with Pregnancy Hypertension during my 36th week of pregnancy. My blood pressure spiked up to 140/100 on two consecutive readings, and the next thing I know, that I’m sitting in an ambulance, on my way to Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s emergency building. 
Tumblr media
                     At Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Waiting for an available bed
Tumblr media
                  Mirin bought me the entire family mart food available xD
I spent 3 nights in their maternity wards, finally discharged after the doctor told me that I was clear to go. While I was in the hospital, it pains me to see new mothers struggling during the COVID19 pandemic. Throughout your stay, no visitations were allowed from anyone including your husband. If your baby cries or if you’re in pain, you’d have figure it out yourself. I remember praying to god while crying that I do not want to be induced there. The ward was stuffy and hot. There were too many people crammed in a room. It was hell. 
The Day That I Give Birth
One week after my discharge, we both went for my monthly checkup with my OBGYN at Pantai. Again, my doctor advised me to be induced tomorrow, since my blood pressure spiked again, and I was almost full term (38 weeks) so it was okay to go. She told me that “It’s best to get the baby out or else you boleh kena sawan” OMG Okay okay. So we packed our bags, ate sushi for dinner, slept soundly for the very last time, and headed to the hospital again at 9 am the next morning. 
Tumblr media
                         Induction day. We definitely overpacked haha
Tumblr media
       Arrived at the hospital lobby, did a mandatory swab test before entering
Tumblr media
Appointment card. Booked and paid for the accommodations prior to checking in
I was told to change into my labor robe (I’m not too sure what it’s called), and waited. When my doctor finally arrived, she then began to insert some sort of a plastic strip deeeeeep into my cervix. Ouch, that hurts. Okay, so that’s how induction works eh? Then I was given antibiotics into my IV drip too, since I was GBS (Group-B Strep) Positive as well. 
Tumblr media
                                Toilet selfie! Calm before the storm
After an hour, I felt the contraction. Initially it was uncomfortable, then it hurts like hell. The contractions felt like period pain but like a million times worse. Occasionally, Doctor Haslinda would come and check on my “bukaan”. Hours passed. 1cm... 2cm... 3cm.... when I finally said:
“Omg sakit sangat dah tak tahan, I want an epidural!“
Ok no, that was a lie. I initially didn’t want to take an epidural. I wanted to try and bear with the pain, but Mirin convinced me to take it, so after tossing and turning like a dying fish I finally said okay. 
The anesthesiologist came after what felt like an eternity, and asked me to sign a consent form. I’m not really sure what was written in that. Siapa je ada masa nak baca terms and conditions panjang panjang bila tengah contractions??? 
He told me to sit on the edge of the bed, while hugging a pillow. I remembered him injecting some numbing spray, then I felt the BIG NEEDLE poking through my spine. Then.. that was it. It was so fast. The entire process took only 5 mins. Was it painful as I thought it would be? No. Was it still scary tho? Yep hahaha.
Soon after, Dr Haslinda pecahkan air ketuban when I was 4cm dilated. It didnt hurt because I was on epidural, but I felt so much warm liquid flowing out non-stop. So bizarre. 
Tumblr media
Once you’re on epidural, you’re basically bed-ridden. No bathroom trips anymore, my legs feel like jelly. Sometimes the nurse will come to empty my bladder with a catheter. When the epidural kicked in, I could finally sleep. I slept like a baby. I slept for hours. Painless. No more feeling like a dying fish. And so I thought.............
3am. I woke up with INTENSE CONTRACTION PAIN. Why is it so painful? I thought I’m on epidural? I called the nurse straight away. Turned out the epidural drug ran out. It was sooo stressful because the nurse that was on duty that night didn’t know how to topap balik the epidural drug into the machine. She called her colleague, then the colleague also tak tahu. Then both of them spent like forever to troubleshoot how to use the machine, sampai lastly kena call doctor tanya. YA ALLAH, rasa macam nak maki je. 
7am the next day. Bukaan baru 7-8cm. Doctor decided to use another form of induction to speed up the process. It’s called pitocin, and injected through my IV drip. Within MINUTES, I could feel very intense and painful contractions, that the epidural can’t even help. So throughout the remaining 7cm to 10cm, I felt every inch of real labor pain. I clenched Mirin’s hand. So tightly that I think it got bruised. A minute felt like an hour, and an hour felt like years. It was soo bad that my memory was so fuzzy. 
Finally, it was 10cm. Time to go. They put both of my legs up, macam gambar bawah ni haha: 
Tumblr media
                                      Picture courtesy from Google
There were two nurses, one small cute Malay nurse, one pregnant Indian nurse, and my OBGYN, Dr Haslinda. I love them all, they were so supportive and nice to me throughout my labor process. My doctor taught me how to push correctly:
“Take a deeeeeeep breath then tahan, clench your fists, chin down and teran macam nak berak sekuat-kuat hati“
I was so determined to get the baby out. I just wanted the contraction pain to end. I did everything they told me to do. I hold on to Mirin’s hand, and PUSHHHHHHHEDDDDDD! I could hear Mirin saying “You’re doing great sayang!” After several pushes, and some sips of water breaks, the baby’s head is almost out. The head was the hardest to push. Besar! I literally felt like my down there was stretching to its limit. Once the head is out, I did another small push, and the rest of the baby’s body macam keluar instantly macam super slimy like that haha. 
Finally the baby is out! 8.26AM! The contractions stopped immediately. I instantly feel like I wasn’t pregnant anymore. The doctor then injected something on my thigh, then my uri just popped right out haha. My body felt so tired, but so so light. Lega, yay no longer pregnant haha. I ended up having second degree perineal tear without an episiotomy, and was stitched. I felt the benang, ngilu. I felt the needle pierced through my muscles too. But it didnt hurt so it wasn’t too bad. 
The baby gets cleaned up. Then soon all of the nurses left the labor room, it was just me, Mirin and our baby. Mirin picked her up, and azankan. Mirin started crying, I cried too. It was magical :’)
We did skin to skin and tried breastfeeding for the first time. As I look at her, hair was so thick. Her cute little fingers. Her beautiful face. She’s perfect. 
Tumblr media
                            I slept for 5 hours straight after the labor
Thinking back, I have no idea how I managed to muster such courage to go through all these. Mirin even told me that during the active labor stage, when I was pushing, at one point I pushed so hard that my entire face turned blue. Talk about adrenaline.
Do I want to have another baby? Well, lets keep a rain check on that question for another few more years to come xD
1 note · View note
Text
Stark Spangled Forever: Stendhal Syndrome
Part 1- Brat
Tumblr media
Intro: It’s Rori’s fifth birthday party, and there’s someone there who Katie doesn’t really appreciate hanging round her man.
And Steve doesn’t really appreciate Katie’s attitude either.
Uh Oh….
Warnings: Bad language.
Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark
A/N: This was a one shot. I got carried away and wrote 24 pages. So now you have a duo shot thanks to that photo sending me to a dirty place. No smut in this one…but it’s on its way in the next part! Also apologies for the lack of formatting on here…my laptop is screwy….
SSF Masterlist // WIYPT Masterlist
Tumblr media
May 2029
“Katie…” Steve called up the stairs. He waited for a moment. There was no response. “Honey?”
Still nothing.
He bounded up the steps, taking them two at a time and headed over the landing and into their room. He paused in the doorway, smiling gently as he saw his wife curled upon the bed, Harry snuggled into her, his head tucked under her chin as they both slept. He wasn’t surprised they were both flat out. They’d had a rough time with the tot the previous night. He had woken up at about 2 am crying and Steve had gone into find both he and his bed full of vomit. After they’d cleaned him up he’d continued to be sick, grumpy and teary, and hadn’t settled even when they’d brought him into bed with them. Eventually Katie had given up and taken him downstairs. Steve had initially gotten up with them but Katie had sent him back to bed pointing out that one of them needed to be with it enough to look after the others the day after. It was also an unspoken fact that they both knew Harry wouldn’t settle for his dad when he was like this. Steve thought Jamie was a momma’s boy but that was nothing compared to their youngest.
He gently closed the door and headed back downstairs and into the den where Jamie was sat cross legged on the rug faffing with some Lego and Rori was perched watching The Wizard of Oz.
“Guys, what do you fancy for lunch?”
“Are you making it?” Jamie looked up at him. Steve snorted.
“Fraid so pal. Momma’s asleep with Harry.”
“Is Harry still sick?” Rori looked around, her eyes wide.
“He’s ok sweetie.” Steve assured her “He just has a tummy bug.”
“Or he ate your cooking.” Emmy said from behind Steve as she passed him heading into the kitchen.
“Enough cheek thank you.” Steve said, raising an eyebrow at her back. He heard her chuckle as she opened the fridge.
“Jamie its ok…” she called “There’s left over lasagne.”
“Yesss.” Jamie said, jumping up off the rug. “Mom’s lasagne is the best.”
“Daddy?” Rori spoke again, her round green eyes looking at Steve.
“Yes baby?”
“Will Harry be ok for my birthday party?”
Steve noticed her biting her lip, the same expression Katie wore when she was worried. With a soft chuckle he crossed the room and knelt down in front of her. “Of course he will, it’s not for another week yet.”
She considered his answer and nodded. Steve reached out and gently tucked her dark hair behind her ears. It was then he noticed her lip wobbling.
“Hey…” he said, frowning, as he stood up to sit besides her. She crawled onto his lap and tucked her face into his shirt “What’s wrong?” She sniffled slightly and pressed her face further into his chest. Steve gently rubbed her back and stayed still waiting for her to speak.
“Jemima at school…” she sniffled, and Steve took a deep breath. He knew where this was going. “Her brother got sick and he dieded.” “Ok…” he said gently, “Jemima’s brother was very poorly. Harry just has a tummy bug. I promise you Rori, he’s not going to die.” She sniffed again and looked up at him “Pinkie promise?”
He smiled and held up his hand, little finger extended “pinkie promise.” She mimicked him and intertwined her small finger with his before she reached up and wrapped her arms round his neck, nuzzling her head into the space against his cheek.
“Why is your face always scratchy?” she asked and Steve gave a laugh.
“Blame your Momma, she won’t let me shave.” he said and Rori pulled back, her little hands raking into his beard. He playfully snapped at her fingers with his teeth, a loud clicking noise sounding as he bit onto thin air and she giggled.
“You gonna come get some lunch?” he looked at her. She nodded and he stood up with her in his arms, carrying her through to the kitchen where Emmy was already halfway through making a salad to go with the leftovers which were heating in the microwave.
“Thanks Em.” Steve said, dropping Rori onto a chair by the table before he moved over to grab some plates.
“Think we should save mom some?”
“No it’s ok.” Steve shook his head “if she’s hungry when she wakes I’ll make her a sandwich.”
Emmy nodded. “Oh, I thought Peter and Brooke could come over later, if that’s ok? I mean, if Harry’s not still sick.” “They can come over anyway, it’s fine.” Steve said, “Harry will most likely be upstairs anyway.”
“We were just gonna hang out by the pool for the evening…” “Em.” Steve chuckled “It’s fine…” and then he paused and smirked slightly as he looked at her “You want the beer don’t you?”
She wrinkled her nose and nodded.
“There’s plenty in the bar…just don’t get that drunk one of you drowns.” he said after a pause. “Explaining that to Peter’s Aunt or Jennifer would be a bit awkward.”
“Thanks dad.” she smiled at him.
They ate their lunch, the 4 of them chatting away, Steve pleased to see Rori was settled now, her earlier upset forgotten. Once they were finished Emmy took Rori and Jamie out into the garden to play on the jungle gym whilst Steve cleared the dishes. Every so often he glanced out of the window to see the kids playing a soft smile on his face. He enjoyed days like this, weekends or during the holidays when they were all together. It was just a shame their brother was too poorly to join in. He called out of the open door to tell Emmy he was nipping upstairs before he repeated the journey he had taken a little over and hour ago, checking his watch.
Katie glanced up as he opened the door, her finger on her lips.
“Hey…” he whispered.
She smiled and gave a soft yawn “How long have I been asleep?”
“Not sure sweetheart.” he said, “I came up about an hour or so ago and you were flat out.”
She gave another yawn and Harry stirred gently, his hand rubbing at his eyes before he settled back down. Katie gently felt his head.
“He’s not as warm as he was.” she said as Steve gently perched on the bed, smoothing back his son’s dark blonde hair.
“Rori got really upset.” he said, smiling softly “She mentioned Jemima’s brother.”
Katie sighed and frowned “Yeah. It was hard trying to explain that when we heard the news. Is she ok?”
“She’s fine.” he assured her “Gave her a pinkie promise Harry only had a tummy bug so.”
“Daddy’s girl.” she smiled and Steve gave a gentle chuckle.
“Peter and Brooke are coming over later.” he said “Emmy wants to hang out in the pool house with a few beers.” Katie smirked “You’re definitely going soft in your old age.”
“Well Emmy is 21 now so I can’t stop her and as for Pete and Brooke, well, sooner they do it here than in a bar.” he shrugged. “You want some lunch?”
Katie shook her head “I’ll eat later.”
Harry stirred again, only this time he grumbled slightly and blinked, opening his eyes sleepily. He looked at his momma before he nuzzled into her closer, his hand winding into her hair as he started to grizzle slightly.
“Hey baby…” she said, kissing his head.
He mumbled something again, his noises not quite forming into words yet, still being half asleep, and then he turned his head to peek up at his dad.
“You ok Pal?”
Harry eyed him for a moment before he moved and held out his arms in Steve’s direction. Slightly surprised Steve moved to take him in an embrace as the little boy snuggled into his chest and Steve kissed his head. Katie smiled, the sight of Steve with his kids was something she would never get tired of. Being a father brought out all his best qualities, just like the serum had amplified them, having kids had too.  He was loving, patient, gentle yet strong, stern and happy to deal out the discipline when appropriate.
She sat up, pecking him on the cheek at the point where his beard met smooth skin. “You know you might not have the shield anymore but you’ll always be their superhero.”
********
Much to Rori’s relief (and everyone else in the Rogers household for that matter) Harry’s illness only lasted 24 hours and he was back to his cheeky, happy little self the next morning. Arrangements pressed ahead for the party, it wasn’t a huge gathering-namely Rori’s closest friends from school and family- which was to take place the weekend before her birthday.  As she shared her day of birth with her late uncle, Katie always found the day a little bittersweet but she tried to keep any of her sadness and nostalgia at bay for the sake of her little girl and focus on the celebration instead.
By 2pm in the afternoon their garden was packed with 7 other 5 year olds, a couple of parents and the usual additional suspects, namely Morgan and Pepper, Jennifer and Brooke along with Bucky and Sam. Rori had stipulated that she didn’t want any games or anything, just to play in the garden on a bouncy castle with some “Princess Punch” which was basically pink lemonade full of chopped up strawberries and raspberries, something her dad had made her one day and she insisted that no one else could make it the same. So, that’s what she had gotten.
“So who’s the blonde Katie’s throwing shade at?” Sam asked as Steve handed him a beer. Steve groaned. Rori’s best friend, a girl called Aurelia was obviously at the party. And so was her mother. A certain Dani-with-an-I, the real-estator who had shown them around the first house they had looked at in Brooklyn all those years ago But, as Steve knew only too well, his wife held a grudge better than anyone he had ever met in his life.
Ever.
Sam gave a loud snort of laughter as Steve explained about the whole incident when they'd been looking round the house and Dani flirting with him whilst Bucky took another Asgardian beer from the stack Steve had placed in a specific chiller in the garage and popped the top off effortlessly with his metal hand. The three men emerged out of the side door back onto the garden, taking up their spot by the side of the garden overseeing the proceedings whilst the women were perched on the decking which ran flush along the back of the house. Katie was milling around the garden somewhere, making sure everyone was ok.
“Bet that makes for interesting conversations when Aurelia comes for sleepovers…” Bucky mused.
“Katie’s not callous enough to have issues with a child simply because she doesn’t like her mother.” Steve shook his head, immediately defending his wife. “In fact she’s nothing but welcoming to her, she’s Rori’s friend after all. She just keeps any exchanges between her and Dani to a minimum.”
“Well, you best watch your back…” Sam said “Because it looks like she’s heading over.”
Steve sighed and spun round to face Dani as she approached him.
“Hi Steve…”
“Hey Dani.” he said “Everything ok.”
“I don’t want to cause a fuss but, well Jamie and Morgan are causing a bit of an issue.”
“Issue?” Steve frowned. At that point Rori came running over to him, tears flooding from her face. “Princess…” he crouched down. “What’s wrong?”
“Jamie and Morgan are throwing those little ball thingies that bang at everyone!” Rori said, stamping her feet. Steve glared up at Bucky.
“I told you not to give him those!” “I aint given him any for weeks!” Bucky held his hands up. “He’s clearly stashed them…I’m sorry Rori…”
“What have you done now?” Bucky turned to see Katie stood there, her eyebrows raised, sunglasses perched on her head as they acted like a headband, keeping her long hair off her face.
“Given Jamie contraband.” Sam said.
“Those damned firecrackers?”
Bucky shrugged.
“You’re an ass.” she said to him as she crouched down to look at Rori. “You ok sweetie?”
“He keeps throwing them at me!” she yelled.
“Ok…” Katie soothed her, and Steve took the opportunity to glance at his wife. She still knocked him off his feet after all these years. Her make-up was light, leaving those freckles he adored on show, and the pale yellow and blue maxi dress she was wearing complimented her amazing figure and curves to perfection, leaving her shoulders bare bar the thin spaghetti straps which crossed at the back. And it was low cut enough that Steve could see a fair bit of sideboob as well. Which he would never complain about. She turned to Steve, raised her eyebrow as his gaze lifted from her chest to her eyes. “Did you hear a word of that?”
“No.” he said honestly. She snorted.
“I just said that you’d go and speak to Jamie and Morgan.” she said, nodding to Rori.
“I’ll deal with your brother, I promise…” Steve confirmed “Go and play and don’t worry about it…”
He wiped her tears away with his hands, gave her a kiss and stood up
“Where are they?”
“By the side of the pool house.” Katie responded at the same time Dani said the same thing.
“We got it, thanks…” Katie looked at the woman. She nodded and sidled off, Steve ignored the look of utter glee that Sam and Bucky shared at the fact Katie was getting all “Starky Snarky” as Sam called it. Katie watched her leave before she turned back to Steve, ignoring the look he was giving her. “Spotted the little shits before.” she continued “They’re trying to hide behind the stack of sun-loungers”
He nodded, dropped a kiss to Katie’s lips and headed off to find the trouble makers. He took the long way, striding round the edge of the pool so they wouldn’t see him coming. He stood simply watching them for a moment. Jamie and Morgan were thick as thieves. With little over a year between them, they’d practically grown up as brother and sister, which Steve and Katie loved, but they were a recipe for trouble. With Morgan’s cleverness and Jamie’s penchant for mischief they made a right pair. Jamie said something to Morgan and she sniggered and they both stood up which was when Steve made his move. He gently grabbed Jamie’s collar and the back of Morgan’s top, pulling them back, ignoring their yells of protest as he bent over.
“If you two don’t stop right now, you’re gonna be in big trouble.” his voice was low and steely as he spoke and the pair of them stiffened slightly. He let go and stood up, hands on his hips.
“Dad, we were only-“
“Son…” Steve cut him off, holding his hand up in an instruction to stay quiet “Just don’t.” He held his palm out in front of him “Hand em over…”
With a sigh and a scowl Jamie emptied his pockets, Morgan following suit and they both passed Steve the small boxes of the little white firecrackers.
“I mean it you two. One more toe out of line…”
“Sorry Uncle Spangles.” Morgan bowed her head.
“It isn’t me you should be apologising to” he said, looking at the 10 year old. She was getting more and more like Tony with each day that passed. He felt a little pang for his brother-in-law as he looked into her brown eyes and took a deep breath, his voice softer when he spoke again “Go and say sorry to Rori, both of you.”
********
“What’s Morgan done?” Pepper asked as Katie headed up to the decking.
Katie snorted “Her and Jamie have been throwing firecrackers.”
Pepper groaned “I’ll have a word…”
“It’s ok… Steve’s sorting it.” Katie shrugged “No biggie, just being kids…”
“I don’t understand how she can be so like Tony when he’s not around.” Pepper said gently.
“Stark DNA.” Katie grinned, “it’s strong.”
Pepper snorted. “Yeah, it must be.”
The two women watched as Steve spoke to the kids, taking the boxes off them before dismissing them. He strode across the lawn, looked up at Katie and gave her a smile before he made his way into the garage to dispose of the offensive ‘weapons’.
“Where did they even get them from?” Pepper asked.
“Bucky” answered Jennifer and Katie the same time. Katie glanced back over the garden, everything seemed to be back to normal. Her eyes fell on Dani who was now stood with one of the other mums that Katie had been speaking to earlier.
“Who’s that?” Jennifer asked.
“Some tramp.” Katie shrugged.
“Her name is Dani.” Pepper snorted “With an I…”
“Was she the last Trashbag you had to take out one morning?” Katie asked. “She mentioned something about that last time I met her and she does look a familiar.”
Pepper snorted. “No…she never got there. Not for the lack of trying. But you’re right, she does look a little like Christine Everhart.”
“Of course…” Katie snorted, “Christine…”
Katie wandered through from the kitchen in her cami and short pyjama set, clutching a bowl of cereal, groaning at the raging headache she was sporting. She was visiting home for a week or so to attend the Apogee Award ceremony in Vegas, which was honouring her brother. Pity he hadn’t actually cared enough to attend himself, instead living it up in the Casino. Obediah had accepted the award for him and then she’d continued drinking with the rest of the party that had turned up…and continued the drinking on the private jet home.  As she shuffled into the living area, she stopped dead looking at the blonde woman, dressed in nothing but one of Tony’s shirts as she sloped around their living area. Another one of Tony’s bimbos that he picked up in Vegas and flown home with them. Said bimbo made her way over to the pad that led to the workshop and pressed a few buttons.
“Hey, Tony?”
“You are not authorized to access this area.” Jarvis said, making her scream and jump. Katie sniggered.
“Jesus.” the woman said.
“No, JARVIS…” Katie spoke loudly and the woman span around. “He runs the house.”
“You must be Katie…”
“And you must be Miss Saturday.” Katie shrugged, sitting on the sofa “Well, for this week anyway…”
“Christine…” she said. “We met last night…”
“Yeah I don’t bother learning names.” Katie shrugged. “They never last long enough for me to give a shit.”
At that point Pepper walked into the room holding up a clothes carrier.
“I’ve got your clothes here. They’ve been dry-cleaned and pressed, and there’s a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you’d like to go.” She said, smiling at the woman.
“You must be the famous Pepper Potts.”
“Indeed I am.” Pepper smiled.
“After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry-cleaning.” she commented sarcastically.
“Bitch.” Katie said loudly. Christine looked at her but Pepper simply remained still and smiled, her tone pleasant and even.
“I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash.”
At that Katie choked slightly on her cereal and looked up as the smug bint’s smirk slid off her face.
“Will that be all?” Pepper asked.
Christine took the hangar and sidled off.
“Taking out the trash…” Katie grinned “Pepper that was fucking genius!”
Pepper arched an eyebrow.
“Where is my dickhead brother?”
“Where do you think?” Pepper asked.
Katie hummed and put down her empty cereal bowl before she made her way through the door Christine had been trying to unlock and down to Tony’s workshop.
“JARVIS, lower that racket…” she muttered.
“Certainly Miss Stark…” 
The noise dimmed and Tony wheeled round “Please don’t turn down my music” “Good morning to you too.” Katie rolled her eyes “Last night’s conquest has left. Pepper just threw her out.”
“Speaking of which, you are supposed to be halfway around the world right now.” Pepper appeared but Tony wasn’t listening.
“How’d she take it?” He looked at Katie. 
“Like a champ.” she shrugged.
Tony grinned and then turned to Pepper “Why are you trying to hustle me out of here?”
“Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago.”
“That’s funny, I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there.” Tony quipped sarcastically.
“Tony, I need to speak to you about a couple things before I get you out of the door”
“Doesn’t it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?” Tony continue and then Pepper’s voice rose.
At that point Katie groaned and decided she needed to go to bed before she split for her own flight home and left them to it. 24 hours later she was back in London, getting the notice from Rhodey that Tony was missing…
Laughter dragged Katie back out of her memory and she wiped her eyes slightly, memories of her brother still hit her hard. She turned to catch the last of Pepper’s explanation about Dani’s ‘antics’ at a Stark Party once to which Jennifer, Emmy and Brooke were all laughing along with as Pepper glanced at Katie.
“What is she doing here anyway?”
“Well, her daughter happens to be Rori’s bestest friend in the whole world.” Katie said, repeating the words Rori used to describe Aurelia her “And of course when I asked a few parents on the invites to join, she jumped at the chance.”
There was a pause as they all continued to watch the woman as she tilted her head back and laughed at something that one of the other mom’s had said.
“Is her hair even real?” Emmy asked suddenly.
“Nope. And neither are her tits…” Jennifer mumbled. “Aint no way she’s had a kid and they’re still…” she grabbed her own breasts and hoisted them up, causing all the women to snigger into their drinks.
“Momma?” Katie spun to look at Rori who was grinning up at her mum.
“Hey sweetie” Katie smiled, crouching down “You ok now?”
Rori nodded “Please can I get a drink?”
“Course you can baby…” Katie smiled “Why don’t you go ask daddy to grab you some of the Princess Punch?”
She gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek before she skipped off down the lawn to where Steve was stood with Bucky and Sam. Katie watched as he immediately looked down when Rori tugged at his black jeans. With a huge, genuine smile he swept her up, her legs causing Steve’s sweater to ride up and at the flash of his toned stomach Katie bit her lip.
“Down girl..” Jennifer mumbled and Katie snorted.
“That obvious?”
“You’re not exactly subtle…” Pepper smirked “That’s the Stark in you.”
Behind her she heard Emmy groan before Brooke quipped “Em, not being funny, but your dad is hot.”
“Fuck off.” Emmy shot back as Brooke cackled “That’s disgusting.”
“His best friend ain’t bad either…” Jenifer mused, cocking her head to one side as Bucky reached up to gently ruffle Rori’s hair, and then tilting his head towards her as she reached to do the same to him, a huge smile spreading across his face.
“Eww.” Brooke groaned, and this time it was Emmy’s turn to laugh.
“Speaking of which, where’s Peter?” Katie turned to Emmy.
“He’s dropping May and Happy at the airport and coming down later…” she said, a faint pink tinge on her cheeks. Katie looked at Pepper, the pair of them smiling to one another. Emmy and Peter had been pretty on and off over the last 5 years but seemed to have been going pretty steady over the last 12 months.
“Which reminds me, can you tell Dad and Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee to behave?” Emmy looked at her mum “They’re always teasing Pete…” “That is a right of passage.” Pepper said wisely “Tony was a shit to Steve when he started dating Katie.” “Tony was a shit to Steve way before that.” Katie grinned “But I gotta admit, he was never that pleased about how he found out.” “Which was?” Jennifer looked her.
“He walked in and found us in the kitchen half dressed…” Katie shrugged “Was his own fault, he should have knocked instead of swanning into my apartment like he owned it.” “Yeah, I don’t…” Emmy started before she shook her head “Shut up!”
“Erm, where are you two off to?” Katie heard Pepper say and she looked up to see Morgan and Jamie half in, half out of the kitchen door.
“The den Auntie Pep.” Jamie answered. “Gonna go watch a film.”
“Least you can’t cause any trouble in there…yes, I heard.” Pepper said sternly “Another toe out of line Morgan H Stark and I’ll take you home.”
“Sorry Mom…” she said, and Pepper dismissed her.
Katie smiled again and her attention turned back to the party. She glanced over the garden and was just about to head down to mingle again, not wanting to leave the rest of the parents feeling awkward when a certain blonde haired tramp caught her attention. She watched her for a moment as she walked over to Steve and then stiffened slightly as she touched his arm, but then she stepped way over the line.
“Oh hell no bitch…” Katie’s eyes narrowed as she saw Dani kiss Steve’s cheek.
“Kick her ass mom…” Emmy mumbled.
“Hold my beer…” Katie said, before she paused “Actually, on second thoughts… I’ll take the beer with me…”
“$50 dollars says Trashbag is leaving here in a box…” Brooke quipped. Pepper, Jennifer and Emmy all sniggered.
********
After getting Rori a glass of punch and retrieving another 3 beers for him, Sam and Bucky, Steve headed back across the lawn, Rori still following him.
“Daddy…” she spoke again.
“Yeah?” he looked at her.
“What are tits?”
Steve choked on his beer and heard Sam’s guffawing laughter from the side of him, punctuated by Bucky’s snorts.
“Ermmm…” Steve wiped at his sweater where his beer had slopped down the front and racked his brains “They’re a type of bird…” The laugher and snorts grew even louder. Steve looked at Rori who was frowning before she shook her head “Why would Aurelia’s mommy have fake birds?”
At that Sam began to cough, and Steve looked at him. He was doubled over, slapping his knees. Bucky was wiping his eyes and gave Steve a thumbs up. “Fake birds, I can’t…”  Bucky’s hand fell to Sam’s back as the pair of them continued to laugh.
“I don’t know…” Steve looked at Rori. “Who said that anyway?”
“Jennifer.” she said, and Steve rolled his eyes and glanced over at his wife who was stood, looking out over the garden. “Well Jennifer is just being silly.” Steve looked back at Rori “Don’t worry about it.”
Rori accepted his answer and ran off.
“You can stop laughing now.” he turned to his friends.
“Man, I love your kids.” Bucky said as Sam straightened up, wiping his eyes.
“Yeah well right now they’re behaving better than their mother.” Steve frowned.
“I dare you to say that to her face.” Bucky smirked “And whilst you’re at it, you can tell Jennifer you think she’s silly…”
Steve shook his head “I’m quite attached to my balls thanks, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Good luck with that…” Sam said, “Blonde haired real estator at 12 o’clock.”
Steve let out a silent groan, he really didn’t need this.
“Steve…” he felt an hand on his arm.
“Yeah?” he turned to face Dani, polite as always.
“I’m sorry about before,I didn’t want to get the kids into trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Steve shrugged “Jamie and Morgan are a handful together.”
Dani laughed, and then stood on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. Steve hadn’t seen that coming. He stepped away slightly and gave her a smile as she looked at him.
“Well, Aurelia was really upset so thank you for sorting it out…”
“Wife…6 o’clock…” Bucky mumbled. But he needn’t have bothered, Steve knew his wife was behind him even before she slipped her arms round his waist, the hand that wasn’t clutching the beer bottle gently slipping under his black sweater, rubbing his stomach softly. He smiled to himself, knowing full well she was here to make a point, and gently placed his large hand over hers.
“Hey beautiful.” he said softly and Katie felt that fire in her belly light even more at his soft words.
“Hey…” she mumbled, pressing her face into his back, gently kissing between his shoulder blades through his sweater before she moved and slid into the space under his arm, placing herself between him and Dani. Steve rolled his eyes at his wife’s passive aggressive display of possessiveness and glanced at Sam who was grinning ear to ear, watching the exchange.
“You know, Mrs Rogers…” Dani smiled at Katie, ”I was just wondering if we were past the formalities of using our surnames now seeing as our daughters are inseparable? ”
She started to laugh and Katie continued to smile before she replied “Nope, I’m good with Mrs Rogers thanks.
Sam started to cough, which was clearly to cover up a laugh. Steve looked at him to see him smirking ear to ear.
“How’s your husband?” Katie looked Dani. “I don’t see him…”
“We’re not together anymore.” Dani said, her smile faltering slightly
“Oh, sorry to her that.” Katie replied, although her tone said otherwise “Guess he wasn’t a fan of you touching what doesn’t belong to you either.”
Dani’s face slipped, but luckily for her one of the other mom’s called her name and she excused herself. Katie watched her go before she felt Steve move his arm from her shoulders.
“That was mean.” he looked at Katie, his brow furrowed.
“I don’t like people touching my stuff…” Katie shrugged.
“You’re a fucking brat.” Steve said sternly, his face displaying no humour. Katie was completely unabashed by his tone and shrugged again
“I warned her last time I’d snap her hand off. She got off lightly.”
With that she turned and walked back towards Pepper and Jennifer. Steve watched her go, his face flushed with anger at her childish display.
“Damned…” Bucky whistled out. “I know you said she could be vicious, Steve, but wow…”
“I think that’s called marking your territory.” Sam quipped as Steve shook his head, the nerve in his jaw twitching.
“It’s called being rude.” He said, before he drained his beer and tossed the empty into one of the recycling tubs by the table “Scuse me fellas, I need to go have a word with my wife…” Bucky and Sam watched as he strode across the lawn, hand pushing his hair back off his face. He reached Katie, acknowledge the women before he gently wrapped his hand around her arm and bent to speak into her ear. She looked at him, frowned, and then allowed him to lead her inside.
“So now they’re gonna have a row and then angry sex, right?” Bucky looked at Sam. Sam nodded.
“Totally…shall we join the ladies?”
“Good idea.” Bucky agreed.
*******
“Uh oh Dad’s approaching…” Emmy said to her mum.
“Is he pissed?” Katie asked, grimacing slightly. As soon as he’d chastised her before she knew he wouldn’t leave it there and she was going to get a lecture about her attitude.
“He’s wearing his Captain’s face…” Emmy wrinkled her nose.
“Shit…”
“A word, inside now…” Steve’s voice was quiet, calm and level as he gently gripped Katie’s arm, but she recognised the icy tone it carried. Frowning slightly, she let him take her hand as he led her inside and through to the lounge. Steve shut the door behind him and Katie watched him, cocking her head to the side.
“Was there any need for that?” he said looking at her.
“For what?”
“You know damned well what.” he said, his voice still low as he raised an eyebrow “What you said to Dani, it was rude.”
“Whatever.” Katie rolled her eyes.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me…”
“Don’t speak to me like I’m one of the kids…” she shot back, her voice slightly louder.
“Well stop acting like one of them.” Steve’s hands dropped to his hips. “The dig about her husband was awful, you do realise he cheated on her right?”
Katie’s face slipped a little “No, I didn’t…but, hang on, how do you know that?”
“She told me, the other week when I dropped Aurelia off home.”
“Oh so you’re like friends now, she confiding in you?”  Katie’s tone was steely.
“No, she just mentioned that she was grateful for us having Aurelia because she’d had an appointment with the solicitor. So maybe, just maybe you should think about apologising.”
“Piss off…” Katie laughed in disbelief. “She kissed you on the cheek…”
“And?” Steve frowned “You forget that plenty of guys do that to you…”
“My or our friends, yeah. She is NOT my friend Steve…”
“Do you seriously feel that threatened by her you have to be so downright nasty?”
“I’m not threatened…look, like I said before, I told her last time she touched my stuff again and I’d snap her wrist. She got off lightly.”
Steve shook his head at his wife, he loved the bones of this woman but sometimes her behaviour drove him up the wall. She could be so petty and obtuse it was ridiculous.
Rogers by name, Stark by nature.
There was a tense silence which Katie broke.
“Are we arguing still?”
Steve sighed “I’m not arguing with you, I’m just pointing out I think you were out of line. If you don’t think you were then that’s your prerogative.” Katie hummed, before she grinned and looked at him “Wanna go fuck in the Camero like last time?”
Steve shook his head, she was unbelievable.
“No.” he said simply, turning to open the door. But Katie wasn’t giving up that easily.
“Shame, because I’m not wearing any panties.”
Ok so that got Steve’s attention. He let out an inward groan as frankly, that sex they’d had in the garage after the previous Dani incident had been hot as fuck but no, he wasn’t giving in here. What was it she always told the kids? “Actions have consequences”
Damned right they do sweetheart.
He turned back to face her, his back pressing to the door as he glanced down at his hands, the sleeves on his sweater were rolled up slightly exposing his forearms. He raised his gaze to meet that of his wife’s and damned, he nearly caved, because she really did turn him on more than she would ever know. But right now, he wasn’t giving her what she wanted.
He sighed and repeated his earlier statement to her “Such a fucking brat.” before he turned and walked out of the room.
Katie remained where she was, stunned. For the first time ever, in their 16 years of being together she had failed to seduce her man.
@the-omni-princess   @momobaby227  @geekofmanythings16  @angelofhell-666  @thewackywriter  @marvelfansworld   @cobalt-gear   @asgardlover75​   @jennmurawski13​   @jtargaryen18​  @saiyanprincessswanie​   @navispalace​  @patzammit​   @joannaliceevans-fanficblog​   @icanfeelastormbrewing​  @djeniiscorner​   @ayamenimthiriel​   @coldmuffinbanditshoe​   @disneylovingal​  @madzmilllz​  @sgtjaamesbaarnes​ @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​     @fatbottomedbarnes @official-and-unstable-satan​
77 notes · View notes
lia-jones · 4 years
Text
Growing Pains - Chapter Thirteen - Let Me Tell You a Story
Victor left my apartment after checking if my refrigerator had food, and only when I solemnly promised I would get something to eat and rest. He also instructed me not to go to work the following day and forbade me to walk Levi’s dog. I was so tired I promptly obliged, eating some leftovers, taking a shower and going straight to bed.
I was so exhausted from all the feelings and all the crying I slept 19 hours straight, without a single dream, which was a first. I woke up feeling a whole lot better. Even though the events of the previous day came to mind, I had no intention of paying attention to them. It was time to focus on what really mattered. I had a good breakfast, brewed myself a pot of coffee and turned on my computer to work on my thesis.
I worked and I ate, and watched some TV. It was 6 pm when I remembered I had a phone.
Two missed calls from Goldman, one from Diane and seven from Victor. And a text. I read it.
I know you’re probably sleeping, so don’t worry about the missed calls. Just wanting to know if you’re doing well. Make sure you feed yourself. Call me if you need anything.
I replied.
Sorry, I was working and my phone was on mute. Everything is fine, don’t worry.
I was about to call Goldman back when Victor called.
“It’s me.” Like I wouldn’t know on the spot who that voice belonged to. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling good. I had a good rest, worked a bit. Thanks for asking.”
“Did you have a meal, at least? You didn’t eat much yesterday.” I rolled my eyes. It was like listening to my mother with a manly voice.
“I ate, don’t worry.” There was a pause. “Is that all you wanted to know?”
“Actually, I have something to tell you.” Another pause. Victor cleared his throat. “Since Ted is no longer working in LFG, I need someone to take his accounts. You’re the best person for the job.”
“Victor…” I was surprised by his decision. “You have other people working for you far longer than I am, way more experienced. I’m just the intern.”
“You’re right, I have employees far more experienced than you. But I watched you work with these partners. They trust you and they like to work with you. You have a keen eye for their needs and their strong points. When working closely with people, experience and knowledge are important, but can only go so far. It takes empathy to do a good job. You have that in spades.”
“I don’t know… This is huge.” I quipped.
“I know right now you have your thesis to finish and the French accounts, so I’m assigning Diane to work with you for the time being. I want you to keep your eye on your goals and not feel overwhelmed with this. You’ll have all the support you need from Diane, Goldman and me. When you finish your doctorate, you have a place in LFG, and Ted’s accounts are yours.”
“You’re not doing this because of what happened yesterday, right? Victor, you don’t need-“
“I’m doing this because of what happened the day before yesterday.” Victor interrupted me, sounding impatient. “I think I already made myself clear about that particular subject. I see your worth, even if you’re too much of an idiot to see it yourself.”
 I didn’t care for the name-calling, but he was promoting me, so I overlooked it.
“Ok, then. Thank you.”
 “One more thing. Due to your continued collaboration with Diane, I’ll have your desk placed close to Diane’s. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all. You probably want the office to yourself.”
“That is not the case, and even if it was, I wouldn’t notice it, since I will be traveling. The holidays are coming, and I need to meet some of the partners, tie some loose ends before the end of the year.” Victor sounded… sad for some reason? Maybe it was just me. He was probably just tired.
“Hope everything goes well with your travels. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I will try not to disappoint.”
“I’m sure you won’t.” There was a pause, followed by a sigh. “Bye.”
I had no idea why, but this felt more than a see you later. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I could actually feel the distance between us growing.
 The following weeks were the busiest of my life. Between my thesis, my own accounts and Ted’s accounts I barely had time to eat and sleep, let alone relax. This whole situation was a double-edged sword: it was a perfect distraction from my own personal issues but it was also a distraction from everything else. I seemed to live only for work, having no time for a coffee with friends or TV. And it was getting to me. Diane and Goldman were also barely keeping it together, they had recently started dating and there was no time for any romantic activities. Goldman would come to the company during the weekends to complete all the tasks Victor had given him, and Diane would be stuck at home with Netflix and a tub of ice-cream, her two new boyfriends.
“It’s like he’s dating Victor, not me.” Diane complained during the lunch break. “We can’t even have sex. It’s like Victor knows, because that will be the exact time he calls. I suspect he has a bug or a camera installed in Henry’s house, this can’t be mere coincidence.”
I hadn’t spoken to Victor since he gave me the new position in LFG. And although it wasn’t unusual, him being the busy man he was, it felt… weird. We had somehow built this proximity, and then, all of the sudden, it was gone. It was almost like he was avoiding me, sending his messages through Goldman instead of calling me directly, like he usually did. I wondered if we had never gotten this close at all and it was all in my head. Or worse, if, despite what he said in my apartment, knowing the details of my abuse changed his opinion of me. Both options hurt. I shook the thoughts from my head and gave my undivided attention to Diane.
 “Ok, listen… Victor is not Big Brother. I’m sure he didn’t install any cameras anywhere except LFG, so don’t try any shenanigans here. And he certainly isn’t watching you have sex with Goldman, unless he wants to be scarred forever. On the same note… The picture of Goldman dismounting you like a horse when he hears his phone ringing is something I will never be able to erase from my mind. Thanks a lot for that.” I joked.
“You’re just too uptight because you aren’t getting any!” Diane taunted.
“So what?” I shrugged. “Neither are you!” We both laughed.
I heard Goldman clear his throat behind me.
“Andy, did you finish your lunch already?” He looked at me, a stern look on his face.
“I know, I know, I need to call Sulley and Sons to see if they agree with the terms of the new proposal. I’ll be on my way.” I said, preparing to return to my desk.
“Yes, you do, but that’s not why I’m here. Can we have a word?”
Diane looked at me, eyes wide, surprised with how serious Goldman sounded. Without another word, I got up and followed him to the conference room. Without Victor around, Goldman could be just as severe as he was. I wondered if I should prepare for a scolding.
“It’s probably none of my business…” Goldman started as we sat down. “But I’m going to ask anyway. What’s up between you and the boss?”
I nearly fell from my chair, my face burning with embarrassment.
“W-what do you mean?” I stuttered.
“Oh please, Andy, I’d have to be really stupid not to notice.” He raised his eyebrow at me. “You two come to work and leave work together. You spend time together in the coffee room. After the whole Ted situation, when you took that day off, he tried to call you several times. Each time you didn’t answer, he would grow more anxious.” Goldman’s voice was accusing.
“My phone was on mute!” I defended myself.
“You were avoiding him, and you know it. And by the look on his face, he knew too.”
I didn’t know what to say. Victor thought I was avoiding him?
“And now, whenever he calls, he keeps using subterfuge to know how you are doing without really asking. I wouldn’t dare point that out to him, but I can see right through that.”
“I don’t understand. What are you trying to say to me?” I asked, feeling annoyed, but mostly confused.
“Just...” Goldman softened his tone. “This happened before, and it didn’t end well. I just don’t want that to happen again.”
“Jesus, Goldman, what happened?!?” I was started to feel seriously frustrated with this talk. “And what does it have to do with me?”
Goldman cleared his throat and took a deep breath. It seemed he wasn’t sure he should say what he was about to say.
“A few years ago, this girl came to LFG asking for funding. She had a small production company, nothing worth Victor’s time, but he agreed to fund it anyway. It turns out they met when they were just kids, shared a history together. And God, he was head over heels in love with her. He would keep a close eye on her at all times, taking care of every little problem she had, and most times she wouldn’t even suspect it. I remember she got hurt one day, during a production. Victor was extremely upset, his mind only able to focus on her and on how she was doing. Like he was with you when you didn’t answer your phone. Anyway, he was completely devoted to her.  All that effort, that protection, that personal investment, all for nothing.”
“What happened?” I asked, feeling a touch of jealousy.
“They never actually had a relationship, even though he was fairly clear about his intentions. I mean, I don’t think he ever really told her, but there were times I saw him being more than clear with his actions, and she would blush but never reciprocate. He would downplay it, he would say she was a dummy, too young, too innocent. Until one day he stopped reaching out for her altogether. No more invitations to the office, for dinner, no more souvenirs. But he kept his silent protection. If you ask me, I think he was trying to make her miss him. See if he could get a reaction out of her.”
“But he never did get a reaction, did he?” I said, my heart sinking. Worse than being insulted, is to be ignored. Suddenly, I felt like a jerk for not answering his calls. But he didn’t have feelings for me other than friendship, if at all, so he probably didn’t care. Or did he? My heart wasn’t sure anymore.
“Not for 10 months. One day, she waltzes in and asks for Victor. His eyes lit up when I mentioned her name, went to her with a smile on his face. She was there to personally invite him to her wedding. She was getting married to this cop she was seeing for over a year.” Goldman’s words were bitter.
“Ouch…” I muttered. Of course he was guarded. He had trust issues. It looked like she was stringing him along the entire time.
“He sulked for nearly a year. And never showed any interest in any woman again. Until you came.” Goldman raised his hands defensively. “I’m not saying he loves you or anything. But it’s clear to me you matter to him in some way, maybe just because you both experienced this Ted situation together, but still, you matter.” Goldman looked me dead in the eyes. “So if you don’t have any feelings for him, just make sure you make him see that. Because another disappointment like this will break him, Andrea. He may seem cold and act superior, but I can tell you he has the biggest heart I have ever seen.”
I remembered the last conversation I had with Victor, and how I never heard from him since. I didn’t matter that much. Goldman was wrong.
“You don’t need to worry, Goldie Hawn. Victor doesn’t want anything with me, trust me. Whatever you think you saw, it’s not real.”
Goldman sat in silence, thinking about what I just said.
“Well, if your done getting your nose in other people’s business, I have to do some actual work.” I said, getting up.
Goldman grimaced.
“Actually, I have something to tell you. You’re not going to like it.”
5 notes · View notes
fanficshiddles · 5 years
Text
His ray of sunshine, Chapter 8
The drinks flowed well that evening, everyone in the pack getting overly merry.
Apart from Keira, who had two glasses of wine before moving onto soft drinks. She felt a little bit tipsy, but still in full control of herself. She didn’t want to go overboard.
Idris turned up the music and started dancing with Tilda. Jeremy and Luke joined in too, dancing around with their drinks spilling everywhere.
‘Come on, Tom! Show us your moves!’ Michael said as he got up to join in too, dragging Jessica with him.
‘No, no.’ Tom shook his head.
Tilda and Jessica both grabbed Keira and hauled her up to her feet to get her dancing. She was a bit shy, but the alcohol that was in her system helped. And she found herself moving her hips and throwing her arms up in the air as she danced around with other two omegas.
‘Come on, Tom!’ Jeremy and Luke chanted together.
‘Yeah come on! You have the moves. I’ve not seen them in a long time!’ Jessica said as she went over and grabbed his hand to try and pull him up.
Tom groaned in defeat. Putting his drink down, he stood up and joined them on the pier. Then he began moving and everyone started cheering and whooping in response. Tom really got into it, taking the limelight for a while with his moves.
Once he was finished, he bowed and everyone clapped.
‘Show off!’ Michael chuckled.
Keira couldn’t stop smiling, she thought it was pretty impressive. And she was excited that he was joining in with their dancing around.
When another song came on, he shimmied his way over to her and started dancing with her. Though she was more just being flung around by him really, going with it while he led the way.
She couldn’t stop laughing the entire time, a joyful sound to Tom’s ears that he definitely wanted to hear more of.
Once everyone had tired themselves out from dancing, they sat down and had some more food to eat. Keira found herself being pulled onto Tom’s lap when she returned with a plate of food. Her cheeks turned bright red, not only at the show of affection on front of others, but just because of the affection in general.
He slid an arm around her middle, holding her against him while continuing to talk with everyone. Keira was almost finished her food when Tom leaned forward and ate her last bit of chicken right out from her fingers, making her giggle.
Jessica shared a look with Michael and they both smiled. They were starting to see the old Tom again, which they were delighted about.
They just hoped it would last.
It was nearing the end of the night, Keira was still sitting on Tom’s lap. He wasn’t letting her go, getting even more possessive because of the alcohol that was inside him. Not that she particularly wanted to go anywhere else anyway.
He was subtly scenting her now and then, kissing and licking her neck. Making her squirm on his lap. He was getting uncomfortably hard in his boxers from her movement and closeness, but he did his best to keep it calm.
Michael had been chatting to Idris when he looked over and noticed Jeremy and Luke at the barbecue. He frowned and rushed over.
‘Guys, be careful. Tom hasn’t spoken to Keira yet about you two… He is doing so tomorrow though.’ Michael said and motioned downwards where Jeremy’s fingers were linked with Luke’s. They dropped contact quickly and all glanced over at Keira, but she wasn’t looking in their direction.
‘Thanks.’ Luke said sheepishly to Michael.
‘How do you think she will take it?’ Jeremy asked.
‘I’m not sure. That brother of mine is rather strict and set in the older ways. Not as bad as Ben, but I still don’t think hearing that his daughter is in a pack with two Alphas in love would go down well. She might be a bit scared at first, worried about getting into trouble. But since Tom has scented her, I think he will be able to talk her round with ease.’ Michael said, hoping he was right.
It was illegal for Alphas to be together, same for omegas. And the penalty for it was very often the death penalty if caught.
Slowly everyone started to filter away. Idris and Tilda went to their cabin first. Then Jeremy and Luke disappeared. Leaving only Tom, Keira, Michael and Jessica.
‘Well, congratulations again you two. And I’m so happy you’re part of the pack, Keira.’ Michael said warmly, standing up and taking Jessica’s hand.
‘It’s going to be great having you here, Keira.’ Jessica said in agreement.
‘Thank you.’ Keira said with a big smile.
‘Night guys.’ Tom said and nodded at them his thanks.
He rubbed circles against Keira’s back and held her chin, turning her face towards him. ‘Shall we head inside too?’
‘Sure.’ Keira nodded with a smile.
When Tom and Keira got inside, they decided to go straight to bed as it was quite late. Keira went to the bathroom to get changed into her nightgown and brush her teeth. She took a deep breath and looked down at her hands, they were trembling slightly.
She was nervous about sharing a bed with Tom for the first time. Would he be mating with her tonight? Was he expecting anything of her? She really didn’t know what to expect. Even after his talk earlier of just going with the flow, she still couldn’t help herself from feeling a little anxious.
After giving herself a small pep-talk, she emerged from the bathroom and went to the bedroom. Tom was just pulling the covers back when he stopped to look at her, his heart skipping a beat.
She smiled shyly at him and rubbed her arm, he could see was nervous again and trembling slightly.
‘Come here, little one.’ He opened his arms out, inviting her in, and to his delight she didn’t hesitate on accepting the offer.
He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. He pressed his cheek to the top of her head and rocked her back and fore slightly.
‘You’re feeling nervous again, aren’t you sweetheart?’ He asked quietly.
‘A little bit… Sorry. It’s just me being silly.’ She said quietly into his chest, slightly distracted by the scent and warmth of his bare chest. She could feel all the muscles… so strong.
Tom chuckled and then started crooning deep within his chest. It had the desired effect because he felt her relaxing so much more. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t think of doing that before, and mentally slapped himself for it.
‘Come on, get that pretty little bum of yours into bed.’ He growled playfully, wiggling his eyebrows at her when she looked up at him. Her cheeks went bright red as she clambered into bed.
Tom joined her and pulled the blanket up over them, smiling when she lay near the middle, close to him. He captured her in his arms again and pulled her even closer, holding her tightly when they both got comfortable.
‘Are you comfortable enough? Do you need anything?’ Tom asked quietly, stroking her hair.
‘All good. Thank you… are you happy? With me… here?’
Tom leaned back enough so he could look at her, he smoothed her hair back and cupped her cheek. ‘Of course I am, darling. Trust me, if I didn’t want you, you wouldn’t be here.’ He chuckled and nuzzled her nose with his own. ‘You’re my omega now. Unfortunately for you, whether you want to be or not.’ He growled and gave her a peck on the lips. ‘But I do hope that you want to be, too.’
‘I do. I really really do.’ Keira said honestly, her stomach lurching at the way he said it.
‘Mmm, good.’ Tom grinned and leaned in to kiss her again.
Keira had a great first sleep with her new Alpha. She slept soundly in his protective embrace. And Tom had a wonderful sleep too. He felt so complete and like something that had been missing from his life was now finally there, making him complete.
When they woke, she was feeling really shy again. She hid her face into the crook of his neck, also using that to her advantage and inhaling in his scent. So masculine, so heavenly.
‘Are you feeling shy again or are you just using that as an excuse to smell me?’ Tom asked teasingly.
‘Both.’ She mumbled against his skin, making him laugh.
He tightened his arms around her and rolled them over, so he was on his back and he had her lying on top of him. Her eyes were wide at the action and she attempted to squirm off, but he tightened his hold.
‘You’re not going anywhere, my little omega.’ He grinned and slid a hand right down her back, to cup her bum gently. He just kept his hand there, holding her.
Keira’s breathing deepened and her body flushed with arousal. Tom could sense her nerves too, mixed in with her excitement.
But it made him pull the reins back a bit. He was getting a bit too ahead of himself again. He wanted her first time to perfect, when she was nice and comfortable. But he did want to do it before her first heat, though he wasn’t sure when she would be due.
‘What do you fancy doing today?’ He asked, gently patting her bottom before sliding his hand back up her spine, to the back of her neck where he stroked her gently.
‘Uhm… I… I don’t know. I don’t mind.’ She shrugged.
‘Well, do you want to do something as a pack or would you rather it just be the two of us today?’ Tom stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.
He could tell she had a preference, but wasn’t wanting to say. So, he rolled them over, earning a squeak from her as he loomed over her.
‘I know that things are run very differently in my pack compared to the one you’ve come from. But you are not going to get into trouble for having an opinion or for having a preference on what you want to do. You have a voice here.’ He leaned down and nuzzled her nose. ‘And I very much want to hear it.’
‘I… I’d like it just us two today. If that’s ok… And if that’s what you’d like too.’ She added quickly.
Tom chuckled and trailed his finger down her jawline.
‘It’s more than ok with me. Having the perfect excuse that my omega wants me all to herself will save me having to deal with some of those idiots out there for the day. Sounds like bliss.’ He winked at her, making her laugh.
‘They’re all so lovely.’ Keira smiled.
‘I know. I am sorry about Ben and Lucy though, not exactly a great first week for you here. But it’s not always that… dramatic. It’s actually pretty boring here.’
‘It wasn’t your fault. And I highly doubt it’s boring.’ Keira said.
‘I shouldn’t have taken Ben into my pack in the first place, so it kind of is… Speaking of which, there are a few things I need to tell you about the pack.’ Tom moved off her and sat up, he motioned for her to sit up too.
She felt a bit anxious again, wondering what he was going to say.
‘Jeremy and Luke are... an item.’
Keira looked a bit confused.
‘They’re gay. Together. But, obviously, it’s a secret.’ 
Keira’s eyes widened in fear. ‘Isn’t that… illegal?’ She squeaked.
‘It is.’ Tom nodded. ‘But just because it’s illegal, doesn’t make it wrong. We can’t help our feelings and who we fall for. They just, had no interest in omegas. They fell in love with one another. They’re happy and not harming anyone. It’s my duty as pack leader to make sure the secret stays a secret. To protect them.’
Tom could see Keira’s mind running wild while she processed what he’d just told her.
‘That’s… I don’t know. I never expected that.’ She looked down at her hands in her lap, then after a moment or two of processing, she responded. ‘It’s really sweet of you though. That you’re protecting them and allowing them to be who they are.’
Tom let out a breath of relief. He gathered her hands in his and smiled widely.
‘I knew you’d understand, little one.’ He brought her hands up to his lips so he could kiss them.
‘How do they… I mean, how do they decide who is the more Alpha one?’ She asked, curious.
‘To be honest, I don’t think either of them have the brains to be more Alpha than the other.’ Tom chuckled.
‘They’re funny. I’ve never met anyone like them before.’ Keira smiled.
‘I know, they are great. I’m very lucky for who is in the pack. We all have a past… but it’s not my place to say for the others. I’m sure, in time, they will share their stories with you too.’
Keira nodded in understanding. He then cupped her chin and had her look at him again.
‘But… I am going to tell you mine, because I don’t want to have any secrets from you.’
133 notes · View notes
thebeethathums · 5 years
Text
Home - 11
Pairings: John Watson x HolmesTwin!Reader
Warnings: The reader in this fic is a TWIN to Sherlock Holmes and as such shares some physical features to him.
A/N: Bolded text indicates John’s Blog Posts.
Tumblr media
A Terrible Mistake
I know I haven’t posted anything for the last week but when I tell you what’s been going on here on Baker St. I think you’ll understand why. Taking the door off her room turned out to not be as good an idea as I thought. When she finally realized it was gone, she threw a fit (which I expected) and when I refused to return it, she locked herself in the bathroom.
At first, I was worried she would stay in there and now I almost wish she’d had. Instead, she came out scarily calm and now she’s being extremely passive aggressive- much like Sherlock was at times… I wonder if they were this way towards each other. I can see that getting out of hand quickly.
ANYWAYS. That’s not the point. The point is that, since I took her door, she has made my life into a living hell. She plays the piano every night at ungodly hours- I think she even picks particularly loud pieces to make sure it wakes me, she refuses to talk to me, going to the point of almost aggressively ignoring me, and the experiments! God the experiments...
There’s some sort of glowing fungus growing on a bucket of seaweed in the shower, a welding gun and odd technical bits covering the living room table where it looks like she’s building a robot, and the kitchen sink is home to what looks to be a kidney and human skin connected to a technical contraption. Not even my chair is safe as when I sat down in it the other day I ended up with some sort of mucus all over my back.
Her newest thing is shooting globs of slime at the ceiling for god knows what reason… I’m trying to stay patient and not yell at her. I really am. But I don’t know how much more of this I can take… Maybe I should just give in and give her the door back.
When John got up the next morning, you’d taken apart his computer and refused to put it back together. That was the last straw.
He yelled at your unresponsive form on the couch and then stormed out of the flat, getting a few blocks away before coming to a stop and letting out a defeated sigh. He’d brought this upon himself by thinking you’d be ok with not having a door after a few days of anger. Why hadn’t he anticipated that you’d be just as stubborn and manipulative as Sherlock?
As annoyed and angry as he was, he knew that you were still hurting more than he could ever know. You cried often but only when you thought he wasn’t around or you were behind the bathroom door and you still hardly ate or slept. If anything it had gotten worse and on top of that you’d completely shut him out. He could only guess at what was going on in your mind and what you were feeling- it scared him.
After what Mycroft had said and the migraine incident, he had refused to leave you alone and took the week off of work, worried that if you were alone for an extended period of time, you might try something. It had been a little over a month and a half since you moved in and he had grown rather attached to you despite the way you were acting now- losing you would be like losing Sherlock all over again. This thought popped into his head and he grew conflicted- he simply couldn’t be in the flat with you any longer but he was very concerned over the thought of you being alone. Trying to come up with a solution, he settled on calling Lestrade in hopes that maybe he had a case for you to keep you busy or could at least stop by to check up on you. John couldn’t help but feel extremely relieved when the man agreed and then set off to do some errands while he cooled off.
Lestrade braced himself for the worst at the door to your flat before lightly rapping his knuckles on it.
“It’s open,” you called and he stepped through the door to find you lying on the floor in Sherlock’s nightclothes and dressing gown with what looked to be some sort of blow dart gun in your hand. You puffed out your cheeks and used your breath to shoot a wad of some odd-looking neon green goop on the ceiling to join a number of other similar splats and then sighed, “I’ve put his computer back together so you can tell him to stop whining.”
“Is there a reason you’re torturing John?” Lestrade huffed, sitting down on the couch as he looked over the flat and then you. You shot yet another wad of goop at the ceiling before answering, “He took my door.”
“He’s just worried about you, (F/n),” he hummed, noting that you were gaunt and had dark bags under your eyes before adding, “We all are.”
You let out a long breath of air, tossing your shooter to the side, and pressed your hands to your face. “I know, Lessy. I just- I don’t know what to do. Most days I don’t even want to get out of bed.”
“But you do, (F/n). I know it’s hard but you’ll get through this. Now get yourself up off the floor and come see what I’ve brought you,” he ordered sternly and you did as he asked, flopping down on the couch next to him.
Your eyes widened considerably when he plopped a bag with a big-eyed, black goldfish swimming around inside into your hands. Holding it up to your face to look at the little aquatic being more closely, you questioned, “A goldfish?”
Lestrade grinned at the glimmer of fascination in your face as the fish swam around the bag and stopped to hover in front of you, “You always complained that you couldn’t have pets because they would end up being part of an experiment. Now that it won’t, I figured that maybe having something to take care of would make you feel a little better.”
For the first time in a long while, you gave a small genuine smile, blinking at the fish and then turning to Lestrade, “Thank you, Lessy. It’s perfect.”
Before he could respond, you had taken the fish into the kitchen and the sound of clinking glass told him you were searching for something to put it in as you called, “You brought me something else.”
“I did. There’s a case I’d like you to look at.”
You popped back in a moment later without the fish and accepted the file from him, flipping it open and shuffling through its contents before nodding, “I’ll take it.”
“Good,” he stated and smiled knowingly, getting up to let you start pinning things to the wall as he ventured, “Now will you give John a break?”
You didn’t stop what you were doing but distractedly answered, “I suppose… just don’t expect me to talk to him.”
When John got home a bit later, he was relieved to see you sitting on the coffee table humming to yourself in thought. It seemed a visit from Lestrade had been exactly what you needed since he could see that the experiments were gone from a quick cursory walk around the flat. He looked over what you had up on the wall for a moment and then slipped back into the kitchen, emerging a second later with furrowed brows, “Why is there a fish in that giant beaker?”
“There wasn’t anywhere else to put it.”
He was surprised you answered at all, but that still didn’t really answer his question, so he clarified, “I meant why do you have a fish?”
“Lessy gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“Reasons.”
He rolled his eyes, knowing he wasn’t going to get anywhere with this, and slipped over to check out his computer, which, as you had told Lestrade, was now in one working piece. For the first time in a week, a peaceful quiet settled over the flat, broken only by the sound of your soft humming, and John could relax.
91 notes · View notes